Behind the Musk-Zuckerberg ‘Cage Match’ Is a Yearslong Billionaire Feud

The two have tentatively agreed, by posts Wednesday on their respective social-media websites, to the duel after years of quiet tensions which have grown extra intense with Musk’s acquisition of Twitter late final 12 months.

Since then, Zuckerberg has seen a gap to assault rival Twitter, which has been beset by drama and missteps below its new proprietor. The newest shot: having his Meta Platforms put together its personal tweet-like providing by Instagram.

Even if the 2 enterprise tycoons by no means really meet up within the ring, the most recent outburst between them—and the spectacle of will-they or gained’t-they undergo with it—underscores the rising rivalry of their enterprise pursuits, injecting recent power right into a battle for social-media promoting {dollars}.

It is just too early to say if Meta versus Twitter will rank up there with the epic model showdowns of the previous century—whether or not it’s Ford versus Chevrolet or Coke versus Pepsi. But it’s clear the bosses are primed for a battle.

Behind the scenes, the 2 have held a simmering feud for years, sometimes taking public photographs at one another over AI and different matters.

In personal, they’ve complained about one another, in accordance with those that have heard it: Musk, money poor for years, brooded that Zuckerberg had made a lot cash so simply with software program whereas he toiled away on electrical vehicles and house rockets. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg pined for the type of innovator esteem that Musk acquired, these folks mentioned.

This month, Meta executives unveiled to staff their Twitter competitor, internally dubbed Project 92, that they hope to launch quickly. Chief Product Officer Chris Cox steered, as The Wall Street Journal reported, the product was impressed by customers who need “a sanely run” social-media platform, a dig at Musk’s firm.

Since taking management of Twitter in late October, Musk has confronted a number of challenges in reinventing the corporate to his liking, together with a pullback in promoting spending amongst manufacturers, partially, fearful concerning the firm’s uncertainty. In response, Musk has mentioned he wanted to make dramatic value cuttings, together with decreasing the workforce, to keep away from chapter.

Now, he says the corporate is on observe to be cash-flow constructive and has employed a high-profile TV advert govt to be CEO to enhance advertiser relations.

Amid information articles of Zuckerberg’s plans to compete towards Twitter, Musk has been jabbing at him with insults on-line. One Twitter person this week cautioned Musk, noting Zuckerberg’s current publicity over his pursuit of martial arts.

“I’m up for a cage match if he’s lol,” Musk tweeted late Tuesday. Zuckerberg, who has been training in jujitsu, responded the next day on Instagram: “Send me location.”

Musk then tweeted: “If that is for actual, I’ll do it.” He later suggested they meet for a match in Las Vegas.

Through the evening, Musk tweeted about their potential matchup, including addressing the issue that Zuckerberg appears in peak physical fitness. A photograph of Musk last year showing him out of shape and being hosed off shirtless, resurfaced on Twitter.

“I have this great move that I call ‘The Walrus’, where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing,” Musk tweeted.

This week’s proposed cage match harked again to the early Nineteen Nineties when Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines, settled a enterprise dispute by arm wrestling a rival in entrance of an viewers at a Dallas area in an occasion dubbed “Malice in Dallas.” The results, though, were prearranged, according to a history of the event on Southwest’s website.

Signs of the tech duo’s public animosity date to 2016 when Musk’s rocket company SpaceX was contracted to shuttle a satellite into space for Facebook to offer internet access to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

However, an explosion on the ground during a routine test firing destroyed the rocket and satellite, disrupting Zuckerberg’s ambitions.

“I’m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent,” he wrote.

A 12 months later, they had been buying and selling barbs over synthetic intelligence, which Musk has warned could possibly be harmful to humanity.

During a reside video on Facebook in his yard whereas smoking some meat, Zuckerberg was requested about that stance. “With AI, particularly, I’m actually optimistic, I feel that people who find themselves naysayers and…attempt to drum up these doomsday situations…I simply don’t perceive it. It’s actually adverse, and in some methods, I really assume it’s fairly irresponsible,” he said.

Musk shot back in a tweet. “I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited,” Musk mentioned.

In 2018, amid Meta’s controversy over user-privacy issues within the 2016 presidential election and a subsequent delete-Facebook motion, Musk joined in along with his personal tweets on the matter. Tesla and SpaceX, the place he’s CEO, deleted their Facebook pages.

“Facebook provides me the willies,” Musk tweeted last year.

Their discord isn’t limited to each other. Both men have a history of heated words with others too.

Musk has many public rows, using his Twitter account to poke at fellow billionaires—Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett among them. But he has never proposed combat with any of them. Last year, however, he did suggest a tussle with Russia’s Vladimir Putin after the war in Ukraine broke out, tweeting that he challenged the president to “single combat.”

That battle by no means occurred.

Meta CEO Zuckerberg notoriously obtained right into a yearslong personal snit with Apple’s Tim Cook after the iPhone maker chief govt made public feedback seen inside Facebook as vital of the enterprise. Facebook has since been at odds over Apple’s modifications to privateness settings that hindered the social-media firm’s capacity to monetize person knowledge.

“We must inflict ache,” Zuckerberg told his team in private as he tried to rally them against Apple.

Musk, too, had his problems with the iron fist of Apple over the App Store, which is important for Twitter’s success in reaching users. Soon after taking over Twitter, Musk declared war against Apple over the fees it collects through in-app purchases via the App Store.

Cookappeared to smooth things over, hosting Musk at Apple’s headquarters and taking him for a walk around the company’s pond.

Social media had fun with the idea of a possible fight between the social-media billionaires. One Twitter user suggested podcaster and UFC commentator Joe Rogan play the role of ref. Musk responded with a fire emoji.

Both billionaires have a history with Rogan.

During a podcast appearance with Rogan, Zuckerberg last year talked about the parallels between business and mixed-martial arts.

“Jujitsu, MMA, it’s like, I think, it sort of teaches you about the flow and momentum of things and I think business is like this in a similar way,” he mentioned. “The hardest factor is realizing while you’re able the place it is advisable to push by.”

Zuckerberg recently was touting his extreme physical fitness routine for Memorial Day and his first jujitsu tournament.

Musk has suggested a more sedentary lifestyle, chalking up fasting and weight-loss drugs to lost pounds and talking about his love of doughnuts and Diet Coke. The EV- and space-rocket billionaire infamously appeared on Rogan’s podcast smoking marijuana.

“I almost never work out, except for picking up my kids & throwing them in the air,” he tweeted Wednesday.

Musk additionally has a historical past of bodily fights gone mistaken. A match with a sumo wrestler years in the past left him with extreme neck and again ache.

As hype grew, Musk’s mom, Maye, was pleading for cooler heads.

“No joking,” she tweeted Thursday. “Fight with words only. In armchairs. 4 feet apart. The funniest person wins.”