Bill Gates and Elon Musk are two of the richest men in the world and at times enemies who don't agree on much. When it comes to thoughts on drinking, the two may have more in common than they know.
What Happened: A social media thread in 2023 by entrepreneur and investor Marc Andreessen caught the attention of Elon Musk. The thread called for the elimination of alcohol consumption.
Here's what Musk had to say about alcohol and how Bill Gates factors into the sector.
Andreessen shared in the Twitter thread that he stopped drinking alcohol six months earlier.
"I feel much better, and I'm mad as hell about it. I never really drank through my 20s and 30s, but grew to really enjoy whiskey through my 40s, coincident with ‘Mad Men,' and roughly a thousand academic studies that proved that alcohol is actually good for you," Andreessen tweeted.
Andreessen said his quote of "The perfect day is 10 hours of caffeine followed by 4 hours of alcohol" has been widely used and might still be true.
"In recent years, it's become clear that most or all — probably all — of the scientific studies on the benefits of alcohol are fake, the scientists unwitting or witting victims of selection effects."
Andreessen said he feels better since giving up alcohol and has gotten better sleep.
Musk replied to the tweet with his own thoughts on alcohol.
"Once you acknowledge that alcohol is poison, it's fine to drink a little. The trade is a small amount of health for an even smaller amount of fun, but that's not crazy to do once in a while with friends," Musk said.
Musk called alcohol "a legacy drug" in his tweet.
In a 2018 "ask me anything" on Reddit, Bill Gates said he wasn't much of a beer drinker.
"I am not a big beer drinker. When I end up at something like a baseball game I drink light beer to get with the vibe of all the other beer drinkers. Sorry to disappoint real beer drinkers," Gates said at the time.
Gates comments were in the news at the time with the billionaire investing in Heineken N.V. (OTC:HEINY), one of the largest global brewers.
Comments from both Musk and Gates suggest they only choose to drink when they are with friends or at social events, with the key being in moderation.
You may not be a billionaire like Bill Gates or Elon Musk, but you can uncover hidden gems in the stock market using our proprietary data and pattern recognition — check out five stocks flying under the radar that deserve your attention.
The Impact of Beer: Gates investment in Heineken drew mixed reactions due to his comments on beer and a study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that showed there are no benefits and only risks for young adults drinking alcohol.
In 2022, a study of people under the age of 40 showed that drinking even two teaspoons of wine per day or two and a half tablespoons of beer per day could risk future health. The study was published in the Lancet medical journal, as reported by Fortune.
Another research report published by the New York Times showed similar results that any amount of alcohol consumption can be harmful to health.
The study found that alcohol damages DNA and can prevent the body from repairing the damage. This can lead to long-term health problems such as cancer. Other harmful items can include high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and liver disease.
This article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.
Read Next:
Image created using photos from Shutterstock.
