Elon Musk says Apple CEO Tim Cook refused meeting to discuss acquiring Tesla
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday said he once pitched selling the electric carmaker to Apple for a fraction of its current value but was refused by CEO Tim Cook.
Credit: Tesla
In a tweet Tuesday, Musk said that "during the darkest days of the Model 3 program," he personally reached out to Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla for one-tenth of its current value. Cook, Musk said, refused the meeting.
It isn't clear when the meeting would have taken place, but Musk has previously talked about the "production hell" Tesla experienced during the development of the Model 3 between 2017 and 2019. Based on its current value, Musk's estimated sale price could be about $60 billion.
The Tesla chief executive made the claim in response to news of Apple developing its own battery technology for a so-called "Apple Car" in 2024.
In a previous tweet, Musk called that rumor "strange, if true." He added that Tesla uses iron-phosphate batteries and that a monocell is "electrochemically impossible."
Past reports over the year have hinted at Apple's interest in Tesla. In 2014, Apple was said to have secretly met with Musk to discuss the possibility of sale.
In 2019, an analyst also claimed that Apple made an informal bid to acquire Tesla for $240 a share back in 2013.
Apple has been developing its own vehicular technology since at least 2014. Though its car project has seen changes in direction and other road bumps over the years, Apple's development has continued through 2020. According to the report on Monday, it has now progressed to a point where Apple is planning on producing its own passenger vehicle with a breakthrough battery technology in 2024.
Credit: Tesla
In a tweet Tuesday, Musk said that "during the darkest days of the Model 3 program," he personally reached out to Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla for one-tenth of its current value. Cook, Musk said, refused the meeting.
During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for 1/10 of our current value). He refused to take the meeting.
-- Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
It isn't clear when the meeting would have taken place, but Musk has previously talked about the "production hell" Tesla experienced during the development of the Model 3 between 2017 and 2019. Based on its current value, Musk's estimated sale price could be about $60 billion.
The Tesla chief executive made the claim in response to news of Apple developing its own battery technology for a so-called "Apple Car" in 2024.
In a previous tweet, Musk called that rumor "strange, if true." He added that Tesla uses iron-phosphate batteries and that a monocell is "electrochemically impossible."
Strange, if true.
- Tesla already uses iron-phosphate for medium range cars made in our Shanghai factory.
- A monocell is electrochemically impossible, as max voltage is ~100X too low. Maybe they meant cells bonded together, like our structural battery pack?-- Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
Past reports over the year have hinted at Apple's interest in Tesla. In 2014, Apple was said to have secretly met with Musk to discuss the possibility of sale.
In 2019, an analyst also claimed that Apple made an informal bid to acquire Tesla for $240 a share back in 2013.
Apple has been developing its own vehicular technology since at least 2014. Though its car project has seen changes in direction and other road bumps over the years, Apple's development has continued through 2020. According to the report on Monday, it has now progressed to a point where Apple is planning on producing its own passenger vehicle with a breakthrough battery technology in 2024.
Comments
The production volume of Tesla at that time,2017, is really low around 110k. So if you divide by $60B, it is really expensive.
Apple has been sued before for "taking a meeting" then releasing their own "similar" product.
You only take the meeting if there is a serious chance that the sale will happen imminently, which generally means the selling price is a fraction of what it would cost to develop internally, or it leapfrog's the competition. At the time indicated, Tesla would not have given either of those things.
Apple iPad was not the first to market, Apple Smartphone was not the first to market. Apple's success is generally in design, technology refinement/simplification, software/hardware integration and scale.
To make money in cars you need incredible scale. I think Apple are far more likely to buy GM or Ford or an asian marque than Tesla. That they didn't buy Volvo a few years ago when it was up for sale surprised me. Either they will (now they have Chinese manufacturing), or they saw it as too small and have larger ambitions. But if they can "outsource" production, then they don't need to buy production facilities. I don't know automotive well enough to know if that is really feasible.
Apple TV innovation how? You don't expect them to sell a commodity low profit margin TV set do you? That's about it. The content is owned by the studios and licensed out primarily.
But i wish someone would acquire Sonos