Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s patriotic Fourth of July video Thursday drew reward from followers of his unexpectedly fruitful rebrand, nevertheless it fell flat together with his archrival: billionaire Elon Musk.
The video reveals long-haired Zuckerberg sporting a chic tuxedo and sipping a beer whereas flaunting an American flag on his beloved hydrofoil, a board that makes use of a wing beneath the water to maintain afloat. The video, set to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born within the USA” with the caption “Completely satisfied birthday, America!,” shortly went viral, garnering greater than 700,000 likes and tens of millions of views.
The video is a part of a rebrand that has remodeled Zuck from pc nerd to billionaire unhealthy boy. In 2020, the Meta CEO was photographed on a board much like the one within the Thursday video and was lambasted for his blue hoodie, shorts, and sunscreen-slathered face.
However the brand new and improved Zuck, who wears designer garments and wins MMA bouts, managed to tug off the look this 12 months, drawing digital applause from followers for his “primarily based” present of patriotism.
Nonetheless, not less than one influential voice bashed Zuckerberg for the video: his nemesis, Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
“Might he proceed to have enjoyable on his yachts. I choose to work,” Musk mentioned in a put up on X.
Musk supporter Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports activities additionally jumped in, saying on X that “Zuck will all the time be uncool.”
Musk usually ruffles feathers together with his fellow billionaires, however he and Zuck have escalated their feud as of late. Their battle, which probably began over a blown-up satellite tv for pc, got here to a head final 12 months when Musk challenged Zuck to a “cage match,” which the Meta CEO later canceled as a result of he mentioned Musk wouldn’t affirm a date. A month later, Zuckerberg launched Threads, a direct competitor to Musk’s X.
Musk nonetheless hasn’t forgotten in regards to the canceled cage match and introduced it up once more in a put up on the day after Zuckerberg’s fortieth birthday.
“If solely Zuckerberg had been as robust (sigh). I’ve supplied to battle him anywhere, any time, any guidelines, however all I hear is crickets,” Musk posted on X on Might 15.
In April, the 2 lastly fought it out however in a battle of riches, with Zuckerberg passing the Tesla CEO to turn into the third-richest particular person on the earth. However since then, Tesla’s inventory has rallied and traders have accredited Musk’s record-breaking $45 billion pay bundle, serving to him as soon as once more reclaim the title of world’s richest man, leaving Zuck within the mud. Musk has a internet value of $252 billion in comparison with Zuck’s $181 billion, in response to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Subscribe to the Fortune Subsequent to Lead publication to get weekly methods on easy methods to make it to the nook workplace. Join free.