Elon Musk's Tesla purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in January. Picture Alliance/Getty Images
David Beasley is the director of UN's World Food Programme. He said that billionaires must step up to help.
Beasley stated that $6 billion would be enough to help 42 million people who "literally will die" if they don't get it.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, says he will sell Tesla stock if the UN can show how the money will solve the crisis.
Elon Musk, a billionaire, said that he would sell Tesla stock to raise funds for the global hunger crisis.
Musk responded to David Beasley's comments about the UN's World Food Programme director, who said last week on CNN's Connect the World that a $6 billion donation by billionaires like Musk or Bezos could help 42 millions people who "literally are going to die" if they don't get it.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk is the world's wealthiest man at the moment and the first person to have a net worth of more than $300 billion. Tesla CEO Musk currently has a net worth $311 billion. This would mean that $6 billion would represent 2% of his wealth. However, such a donation would still place him ahead of Jeff Bezos by at least $100 Billion.
Musk, however, is questioning the claim that the money will solve the current crisis of hunger. He tweeted that if the World Food Programme can show that, he would "sell Tesla stock now and do it." Musk demanded that the money be used in a transparent manner.
Musk's tweet was responded by Beasley who tweeted: "I can guarantee you that we have the systems to transparency and open source accounting in place. To be completely confident, your team can work with us and review the systems.
He clarified that $6 billion has never been a goal of the UN World Food Programme to end hunger worldwide. He tweeted, "This is a one time donation to save 42 millions lives during this unprecedented crisis of hunger."
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Beasley, World Food Programme, has been calling billionaires to help solve world hunger.
It's not difficult. During his appearance on CNN, Beasley stated that he was not asking them to do it every day, every week and every year.
He said, "The net-worth of the top 400 billionaires in America increased by $1.8 trillion over the past year." "All that I ask for is.36% increase in your net-worth. While I support people making money, God knows that I am all for helping those in greatest need right now. The world is in serious trouble."
Business Insider has the original article.
