Elon Musk says Apple CEO refused talks for Tesla at US$60 billion amid reports Apple is to enter driverless car market
- Tesla CEO Musk said in a tweet that he reached out to Apple during the “darkest days” of development of Model 3
- Apple’s stock has climbed, while Tesla has slipped, on a Reuters report that Apple is aiming to produce a driverless car for consumers in 2024
Apple Inc. chief executive officer Tim Cook refused to take a meeting years ago to discuss acquiring Tesla Inc., Elon Musk said on Tuesday.
Tesla CEO Musk said in a tweet that he reached out to Apple during the “darkest days” of development of his company’s Model 3 to talk about a possible deal. Musk said he planned to discuss the possibility of selling Tesla to Apple for one-tenth of its current value, indicating a valuation of about US$60 billion.
In 2017, Tesla burned cash as it ramped up output of its mass-market Model 3 electric vehicle. Musk told employees then at the company’s Fremont, California, plant that it faced a period of “production hell” for six months or longer. Weeks after making that statement, he tweeted about sleeping on the roof of a factory as he tried to resolve bottlenecks.
That happened around the same time Apple decided to shift from development of a full-fledged Tesla competitor to an underlying self-driving car system. In recent years, Apple has hired a number of ex-Tesla executives who specialise in drive train, car interior and self-driving technology. It has also acquired companies that specialise in self-driving car development, indicating that the company is once again considering entering the market.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on Musk’s remarks. Tesla did not reply to a request for a comment on the timing of the offer Musk described.
