Elon Musk says Apple’s Cook blew off Tesla acquisition
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday that Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to meet with him about a possible acquisition of his electric vehicle company when it was in dire straits.
His claim came after the publication of a Reuters report that Apple is developing electric vehicle technology that could result in the production of a car for consumers or self-driving vehicle systems for automakers.
If any of that comes to fruition, Apple would be competing directly with Tesla.
“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),” Musk said on Twitter. “He refused to take the meeting.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment Tuesday.
Musk has said before that Tesla came within weeks of running out of money when it was struggling to manufacture the Model 3 compact car. That was happening around 2018, when the company’s success was far from assured.
In the time since then, though, Tesla has improved its production operations and inspired enormous confidence in investors. Its stock has soared, making it more valuable on the stock market than automakers that sell substantially more vehicles, including Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen and Honda.
Despite Tesla’s stock surge in 2020, however, Apple’s market value is still about 3.7 times greater than Tesla’s.
The possibility that Apple could enter the automotive business is not new. The company quietly worked on automotive technology for a time several years ago before it reportedly abandoned those ambitions after hitting substantial roadblocks.