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Tesla Board Member Mizuno Blasts Calls for Short-Squeeze Curbs

Tesla Board Member Mizuno Blasts Calls for Short-Squeeze Curbs

Tesla Inc. board member Hiromichi Mizuno took advantage of the short-squeeze controversy Friday to resume his war of words on short-sellers, restarting a debate he kindled during his term as the chief investment officer of the world’s largest pension fund.

“Funny to observe those who blindly believe in the benefit of market liquidity and argue against any restriction on short-selling are now lobbying for restriction on retail buying to squeeze them,” Mizuno wrote on Twitter in comments that put him on the side of politicians including the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ted Cruz who have criticized restrictions on high-flying stocks such as GameStop Corp.

Tesla Board Member Mizuno Blasts Calls for Short-Squeeze Curbs

Mizuno is a long-term critic of short-selling. When CIO of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, the fund sparked controversy when it made the decision to stop lending foreign shares. Mizuno subsequently criticized what he termed the “short-termism” of short-sellers in an interview with the Financial Times.

Some critics had said that the pension fund was failing to collect commission fees it could have gained from stock lending and wasn’t contributing to market liquidity. Mizuno appeared to shoot back at those same critics in another tweet Friday.

Mizuno’s stance against short-selling may be one of the things that endeared him to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has in the past taunted short-sellers and called the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission.” Earlier Friday, Musk agreed with another Twitter user’s call for making shorting illegal.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.