POTENTIAL INVESTORS
APPLE
The world’s most valuable company has long been floated as a possible acquirer — and with more than $240 billion in cash, it could finance several Tesla buyouts. But cars have much lower margins than iPhones and iPads
ALPHABET
In 2014, CEO Larry Page mused that he’d rather give his fortune to his good friend Elon Musk than to a traditional philanthropic cause. On the other hand, Page already owns a futuristic car company, Waymo
PRIVATE EQUITY
Traditional buyout firms such as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Blackstone Group would be natural candidates to finance a megadeal. But they’ve historically preferred companies with lots of positive cash flow to support added debt payments — and big dividends
MASAYOSHI SON
The billionaire chairman of SoftBank has the biggest checkbook in Silicon Valley through his $100 billion Vision Fund. But Bloomberg reported that SoftBank’s interest in Tesla cooled after the two companies met in 2017
FOREIGN INVESTORS
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund already owns less than 5 per cent of Tesla. The Chinese government has indicated an interest in investing in electric vehicles. But any foreign ownership attempt would likely rattle US regulators