After Beef With Warren Buffett, Elon Musk ‘Seriously’ Starting Candy Company And/Or Cryptocurrency

Elon Musk is “seriously” starting his own candy company or a cryptocurrency or both. On Saturday, the Tesla and SpaceX founder made a rather shocking declaration on Twitter that he was starting his own candy company. The tweet said: “I’m starting a candy company & it’s going to be amazing.” He followed it up by letting the world know he was “super super serious.”

Earlier in the day, Warren Buffett spoke at the annual Berkshire Hathaway meeting. The Oracle of Omaha warned Musk to stay away from See’s Candies, which is a nationwide candy company that has been owned by Berkshire Hathaway since 1972. Musk must have taken Buffett’s words as a challenge because he said he’s starting his own candy company.

The two multi-billionaires got into a squabble after Elon poo-pooed the idea of moats that Buffett coined in 1999. Moats are a company’s competitive advantages that allow it to stave off competition. “First of all, I think moats are lame,” Musk said during a Tesla earnings call on May 2. “They’re like nice in a sort of quaint, vestigial way. But if your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you will not last long. What matters is the pace of innovation. That is the fundamental determinant of competitiveness.”

Then on Saturday’s Berkshire Hathaway meeting, Buffett’s business partner Charles Munger fired back at Musk. “Elon says a conventional moat is quaint, and that’s true of a puddle of water,” the 94-year-old Munger said. “It’s ridiculous. Warren does not intend to build an actual moat. Even though they’re quaint.” Then the 87-year-old Buffett addressed the controversy. “Elon may turn things upside down in some areas, I don’t think he’d want to take us on in candy,” Buffett said. “There are some pretty good moats around.”

Musk shot back on Twitter.

While he had candy on the mind, Musk also had this thought about Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

There was this delightful fan submission.

Then an important query by Elon Musk. Of course, the correct answer is peanut butter, crisped rice bar, caramel, and milk chocolate, like in a Whatchamacallit.

Then Musk floated the idea of a hybrid of candy and cryptocurrency called cryptocandy.

Finally, Musk trolled Buffett one last time.

Buffett has been outspoken against cryptocurrencies and said they will “come to a bad ending.”

The Twitter user Comfortably Smug made a brilliant suggestion that Musk should skip making candy and create a real-life Westworld park.

Elon did make flamethrowers so you have to believe he might want his own candy company. It must be really, really fun to be Elon Musk.

[Fortune]