PayPal founder Peter Thiel once told Elon Musk to quit the Giving Pledge and not donate his wealth, reported Reuters recently. The report quoted transcripts and audio recordings of a lecture series delivered by Thiel. Recounting the conversation, Thiel warned Musk that if he donates his wealth, he could end up funding causes championed by rival Bill Gates. According to Thiel, the Tesla CEO took the concerns “seriously”. He responded asking “What am I supposed to do—give it to my children?,” in Thiel’s telling. “You know, it would be much worse to give it to Bill Gates,” Theil told Musk.Musk, who currently holds an estimated $486 billion fortune, signed the Giving Pledge in 2012. The initiative, co-founded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Warren Buffettasks signatories to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetime or in their wills.According to Thiel, he presented Musk with actuarial tables suggesting the probability of his death in the coming year equated to giving $1.4 billion directly to Gates, who has funded global health and gender equality. initiatives.Thiel’s advice to Musk emerged as part of a deeper theological lecture series where he discussed his concern about the potential emergence of a global “Antichrist” figure.The entrepreneur, a prominent political benefactor of figures like JD Vance and a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, said he has grown wary of a figure who would promise a one-world government to stop crises like nuclear, AI, or climate disaster. This figure, he believes, would curtail individual freedoms, Reuters report said.Thiel argued that great fortunes, like Musk’s, could serve as a check on this “Antichrist” figure, but only if they are not seized by global tax or sanctions machinery first. He contended that the world’s richest think too little about what will happen to their wealth after death, which is how figures like Gates can quickly amass power.During the lecture, Theil was asked by a moderator if President Donald Trump could serve as a check on the Antichrist, Theil said: “Do you think Trump is the Antichrist? I will give you a hearing. And we should consider that.”
