Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, says he will sell $6 billion US worth of Tesla stock and donate the proceeds to the United Nations' food agency if it could show how the money would solve world hunger.

His statement came after UN World Food Program executive director David Beasley challenged Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and other billionaires in a CNN interview last week, calling on them to step up on "a one-time basis" to help end starvation.

In the interview, Beasley said billionaires could give "$6 billion to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don't reach them."

"It's not complicated," he said.

That money would be approximately two per cent of Musk's fortune, nearly $300 billion US, according to Forbes. His wealth and the wealth of many American multibillionaires has grown quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to increased stock and home equity, even more than before the virus struck.


The SpaceX founder posted Sunday on Twitter: "If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it."

"But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent," he added.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/musk-world-hunger-1.6233103