Prior to the cage match offer, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg privately complained about each other, reports the WSJ. Zuckerberg is reportedly jealous of Musk’s recognition as a tech pioneer.
According to a WSJ report, Elon Musk is upset about how quickly Zuckerberg got rich because of software. It appears tensions have been simmering between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg for quite some time before both indicated they may be ready to settle their differences in a cage match.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the two men have been complaining publicly and to colleagues about each other for several years. Sources who have heard of each individual’s complaints told the publication that the Meta CEO was eager for the public recognition that Musk has garnered over the years as a tech pioneer.
The Tesla CEO was named Time’s Person of the Year in 2021 and is widely recognized for running five different companies, including Tesla and SpaceX. Zuckerberg has also won Time’s Person of the Year award, but that was in 2010, and he has become much less popular in recent years, facing criticism in front of Congress and because of the Facebook scandal.
In 2017, Bloomberg reported that Zuckerberg was “incredible” when a Facebook poll included him with Bill Gates as a “former innovator” instead of labeling him as a “current innovator” like Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Meanwhile, Musk has expressed displeasure over the fact that the Facebook co-founder was so quick to turn a profit from his software startup, while the Tesla CEO focused on building physical products like electric cars and spacecraft. People familiar with his comments told the Journal. In 2008, at age 23, Zuckerberg became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire on the Forbes billionaires list.
Five years later, he took Facebook public. It was one of the largest initial public offerings in the history of technology. In contrast, Musk has said that there were points that both Tesla and SpaceX were on the verge of bankruptcy. He made it to the Forbes list of billionaires in 2012 at the age of 41.
Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world. According to Forbes, his net worth is $67.6 billion and he spends most of it on charity. But he also invests money in real estate, especially airplanes and cars.
Mark Zuckerberg is one of the richest people in the world. The Meta founder and CEO’s wealth exceeded $100 billion last year, making him one of 10 centi-billionaires on the planet. According to Forbes, as of June, Zuckerberg’s net worth was $101.1 billion.
Zuckerberg mostly keeps a low profile, but he spends money on real estate, especially in tropical paradises like Hawaii. He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, also invest in early childhood education and medical research.
More recently, Zuckerberg accepted a random challenge from Twitter CEO Elon Musk to a “cage match”. Meta CEO has been known to participate in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments and other recreational sports.
The two men have publicly feuded since 2016 when Zuckerberg said he was “deeply disappointed” that a SpaceX launch failure destroyed a Facebook satellite. Since, Musk has repeatedly criticized Facebook and called on people to delete the social media app.
Nevertheless, tensions between the two tech CEOs reached a peak earlier this week, when Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match and the Meta CEO accepted the offer.
The Meta CEO quickly responded to Musk’s taunt by telling him, “Send me the location.” To which Musk simply replied “The Vegas Octagon”, also known as the UFC Apex Arena in Las Vegas.
It is unclear whether Musk was joking about the offer to fight the Meta CEO in a cage match, but UFC president Dana White has said that he spoke with both men on the phone and that both seemed serious about the idea. Were staying Musk said via Twitter on Wednesday that “if it’s real, I’ll do it,” but later appeared to poke fun at his own fighting skills. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Meta tells The Verge that Zuckerberg is serious about offering to fight.