Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, offered to sell off stock to help fight global famine if the UN’s World Food Program could show proof of how the money would be spent on solving world hunger – the UN has responded.
UN food program pleads for billionaires to help fight against famine
In late October, the director of the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP), David Beasley, said that a one-time donation of a fraction of the combined net worth of a few of the world’s richest individuals could help fight famine and solve world hunger. Beasley commented that only 2% of Elon Musk’s wealth alone could make the difference.
Beasley’s comments came after Tesla stock hit a value of $1 trillion, NPR reported, increasing Musk’s wealth by another $36 billion, Insider reported. Musk’s net worth climbed to $287 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the richest person in the world.
Beasley followed up the news with a tweet…
“Congratulations to @elonmusk for passing up @JeffBezos as the world’s richest person – worth a whopping $221B!” the chief of the WFP, David Beasley wrote on Twitter. “Elon, to celebrate I’m offering you a once in a lifetime opportunity: help us save 42M people from starvation for just $6.6B!! Offer expires SOON…and lives do too.”
Musk challenges UN to “prove” how money would be spent to fight hunger
On Halloween, in response to the request for help from the world’s billionaires by the UN food program, Elon Musk wrote on Twitter he would help if certain conditions were met.
“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,” Musk tweeted.
“But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent,” Musk added in a second tweet.
In a series of tweets, Beasley agreed to provide proof, while pointing out:
“.@elonmusk! Headline not accurate. $6B will not solve world hunger, but it WILL prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation. An unprecedented crisis and a perfect storm due to Covid/conflict/climate crises.”
UN meets Elon Musk’s demands in bid for $6 billion to solve world hunger
“This hunger crisis is urgent, unprecedented, AND avoidable. @elonmusk, you asked for a clear plan & open books. Here it is!” wrote David Beasley, WFP chief, on Twitter this week, LADBible reported. “We’re ready to talk with you – and anyone else – who is serious about saving lives. The ask is $6.6B to avert famine in 2022.”
Beasley shared a link to the UN website, outlining where the money to fight hunger will be spent.
US $3.5 billion for food and its delivery…
US $2 billion for cash and food vouchers…
US $700 million for country-specific costs to design, scale-up and manage the implementation of efficient and effective programs for millions of tons more food and cash transfers and vouchers…
The website went into more detail on the above bullet points.
In a general tweet this week, Beasley wrote: “The world is on fire. I’ve been warning about the perfect storm brewing due to Covid, conflict, climate shocks & now, rising supply chain costs. IT IS HERE. 45M lives are at stake—and increasing daily. If you don’t feed people, you feed conflict, destabilization & mass migration.”
