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Elon Musk says had once reached out to Apple for acquiring Tesla

Published 12/22/2020, 04:29 PM
Updated 12/22/2020, 07:06 PM
© Reuters. Apple CEO Cook arrives to the global premiere for Apple's "The Morning Show"at the Lincoln Center in the Manhattan borough of New York

© Reuters. Apple CEO Cook arrives to the global premiere for Apple's "The Morning Show"at the Lincoln Center in the Manhattan borough of New York

(Reuters) - Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday he reached out to Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook "during the darkest days of the Model 3 program" to discuss the possibility of the iPhone maker acquiring Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc for a tenth of its current value.

"He refused to take the meeting", said Musk, CEO of electric-car maker Tesla, replying to a Twitter chain which cited a Reuters story on Apple looking to produce a passenger vehicle by 2024 with a new battery technology.

During 2017 and 2018, Tesla struggled to ramp up high volume production of the Model 3 sedan, with Musk at the time informing investors the company was mired in "production hell" because of problems with automated production systems at its battery factory in Reno, Nevada.

However, Tesla overcame the problems and has since racked up a string of quarterly profits. The electric automaker became one of the most valuable companies to join the S&P 500 when it became part of the widely followed stock index on Monday.

Shares of Tesla, however, ended 6.5% lower in its S&P 500 debut, amid news of potential competition from Apple.

Apple's automotive efforts, known as Project Titan, have proceeded unevenly since 2014 when it first started to design its own vehicle from scratch.

Central to the company's strategy for auto production is a new battery design that could "radically" reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle's range.

In the same Twitter chain, Musk said "monocell", which Apple plans to use in its design, "is electrochemically impossible as max voltage is ~100X too low" unless they are bonded together.

Apple declined to comment while Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk speaks onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars at its factory in Shanghai

Latest comments

Huge short interest in TSLA, now it's the bubble within the bubble. Concensus target is $401.
Enlightning. Being tesla the most shorted company, followed by apple, tell us, how have much have loose shorting tsla?
I'm no expert on batteries, but I'm pretty sure lithium is not going to be the solution to making electric cars mainstream. Plug-in hybrids make more sense than electric vehicles unless you live in a big city and never need to drive long distances.
Tesla will crash 70% apple will never have electric car
Apple will never have the battery technology for a car like tesla has!
Never bet against Apple...
Typical juvenile response from Musk. If Cooke says Apple is in the electric vehicle business, then they are. The move from NASDAQ TO SP500 just highlighted how overvalued TSLA is.
Apple — perhaps the worst customer-focused company EVER!
Apple should have bought Tesla with Musk included:)
😁
And Tesla is 10x overvalued
thats what he want to say?
Ridiculous
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