‘We can meet anywhere…’: UN food agency official responds to Elon Musk’s ‘offer’ to sell Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and David Beasley, who is the executive director at the World Food Programme (WFP), continued their Twitter war of words over a recent ‘suggestion’ by the latter that billionaires such as Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos–the two richest persons in the world, respectively–should step up on a ‘one-time basis’ to help end global starvation. On Monday, Beasley took to Twitter to propose a meeting with the South Africa-born US entrepreneur ‘anywhere.’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and David Beasley, who heads the World Food Programme (WFP), continued their Twitter war-of-words over a recent “suggestion” by the latter that billionaires such as Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos–the two richest persons in the world, respectively–should step up on a ‘one-time basis’ to help end global starvation. On Monday, Beasley took to Twitter to propose a meeting with the South Africa-born businessman ‘anywhere.’

“@elonmusk Instead of tweets, allow me to show you. We can meet anywhere-Earth or space-but I suggest in the field where you can see @WFP’s people, processes and yes, technology, at work. I will bring the plan, and open books,” Beasley tweeted, responding to Musk’s tweet asking him to publish his current and proposed spending in detail.

The war of words between the two stems from recent remarks made by Beasley during an interview to CNN, in which he called on billionaires, including Musk and Bezos, to spend a ‘fraction of their net worth,’ amounting to about $6 billion, to help 42 million people who, he said, are ‘literally going to die if we don’t reach them.’

According to Forbes, this much money would amount to approximately 2 per cent of Musk’s fortune of nearly $300 billion. “If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread how how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it,” the 50-year-old SpaceX founder tweeted, drawing a response from the WFP executive director clarifying the remark.

“$6B will not solve world hunger, but it WILL prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation. An unprecedented crisis and a perfect storm due to Covid/conflict/climate crises,” Beasley posted.

Musk, with a net worth of $311 billion, is the richest entrepreneur in the world’s ‘$100 billion club.’