Elon Musk says Apple's Tim Cook refused to meet with him to discuss acquiring Tesla

[Humza]

The big picture: Apple's electric car ambitions have gained mainstream attention once again and recently prompted a key figure of this industry, Elon Musk, to comment on a potential acquisition offer that he had for Tim Cook, back when Tesla was going through 'production hell' with the Model 3 in 2017. The meeting, which Musk says was 'refused' by Tim Cook, could have resulted in Apple acquiring Tesla for $60 billion at the time, or 1/10th of the EV maker's current value.

Although Tesla and Apple have held talks regarding an acquisition before, renewed interest around the latter's electric car project has brought to light another offer which Elon Musk claims to have made to Tim Cook during "the darkest days" of the Model 3's troubled rollout three years ago.

There have been rumors around the 'Apple Car' debuting as soon as Q1 2021, while another report from Reuters says Cupertino is targeting 2024 for mass production. In a tweet discussing Apple's battery technology for its potentially upcoming EV, Elon Musk revealed that he reached out to Tim Cook for a possible acquisition of Tesla. But the Apple CEO refused to meet with him.

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) December 22, 2020

Apple, of course, has been working on its own secret car program, Project Titan, for several years now that it reportedly scaled back to focus on autonomous driving software. However, a potential breakthrough in space and range efficient "monocell" battery technology has seemingly put things into high gear, with Cupertino said to be planning mass production of its first EV by 2024.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88070-elon-musk-apple-tim-cook-refused-meet-discuss.html

 

[Uncle Al]

No doubt Cook is smart enough to realize a con job when he see's one ....... and let's face it, Musk is just a Trump Jr., craving all the attention he can get ....

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

WWSD.......what would Steve do?

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Apple is selling $300 phones for $1400

Apple is selling $50 headphones for $550.

Apple has made its way into just about every new car sale with Apple Play.


Why on earth would they need the liability of selling cars?

 

[Adi6293]

No doubt Cook is smart enough to realize a con job when he see's one ....... and let's face it, Musk is just a Trump Jr., craving all the attention he can get ....

Can you please explain to me how he is a Trump Jr? I honestly don't understand the hate towards the guy, is it because he is successful and you are not?

 

[Adi6293]

Apple is selling $300 phones for $1400

Apple is selling $50 headphones for $550.

Apple has made its way into just about every new car sale with Apple Play.


Why on earth would they need the liability of selling cars?

Its probably so they can sell a $35000 car for I don't know $50000? You know share holders won't be happy if those shares don't keep going up in value : P

 

[wiyosaya]

Why am I not surprised that Musky was/is considering selling Tesla??

 

[hahahanoobs]

Apple had a vision and buying a failing company (at the time) wasn't it. I gotta respect that.

 

[duckofdeath]

Apple had a vision and buying a failing company (at the time) wasn't it. I gotta respect that.

Everything they're selling now is built on acquired tech or tech currently made by others.
Three years ago Tesla was still a shaky business, with a lot of uncertainty. That's probably why they didn't dare to buy them. I mean, they've bought other expensive stuff over the years with, to be honest, less promising futures. Like, Intel's modem business.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Apple had a vision and buying a failing company (at the time) wasn't it. I gotta respect that.

The difference between a failing company and a struggling company is the outcome. And I would agree with you, except Tim Cook refused to even have a meeting. Labeling Tesla a failing company without them ever failing is probably the same bias that Tim Cook had. Today Tesla is the most successful EV company and Apple still is not an EV company.

 

[EEatGDL]

Can you please explain to me how he is a Trump Jr? I honestly don't understand the hate towards the guy, is it because he is successful and you are not?

Uncle AI has a personal hate for Musk, so take it with that in mind. Musk could congratulate his team and Uncle AI would find a way of saying that's proof he's a fraud or something.

 

[Adi6293]

Uncle AI has a personal hate for Musk, so take it with that in mind. Musk could congratulate his team and Uncle AI would find a way of saying that's proof he's a fraud or something.

Is not just that guy, a lot of people hate on Musk for God knows what reasons, he is a visionary, I don't see anyone else pushing space programs or even the EV industry as much as Musk does

 

[Lionvibez]

Is not just that guy, a lot of people hate on Musk for God knows what reasons, he is a visionary, I don't see anyone else pushing space programs or even the EV industry as much as Musk does

People have been hating on successful people since the dawn of time nothing new here.

This site just happens to have more Musk haters than usual.

Apple is selling $300 phones for $1400

Apple is selling $50 headphones for $550.

Apple has made its way into just about every new car sale with Apple Play.


Why on earth would they need the liability of selling cars?

They want what all successful companies want more money and power. And you need to expand your business for that. You need to think like a ceo and not a consumer of their products.

 

[Kirby1]

Musk is unstable. I wouldn't do business with him either if I were Apple.

 

[scavengerspc]

In the end it obviously worked out. I don't see Apple as being capable of pulling Tesla out of their early struggles so Tesla is the big winner now.

And honestly, if Apple plans to bring its antics to the automotive industry I believe it will flop hard. Planned obsolescence in the auto industry as a business model died in the late 80s to mid 90s.

 

[Sean T]

Apple had a vision and buying a failing company (at the time) wasn't it. I gotta respect that.

I wish I had to foresight to have bought Apple stock when they were a 'failing' company. Don't let all those millionaires that were made by that one decision make you question your statement though.....

 

[terzaerian]

Elon Musk is a modern day PT Barnum but it's rich that Tim "Coasting Off Steve Jobs' Network Effects" Cook thinks he's hot ****

 

[Tantor]

Tesla was worth far more than 60 billion. Think of all the engineers, technicians, workers, facilities, land, patents, etc.

Musk offered Cook the deal of the century, and Cook wouldn't even speak him. Cook could have invested a few billion. He didn't have to buy the whole company. Cook was probably hoping that Tesla would fail and he could buy the pieces for even less money. Boy did he screw up.

It will do down as perhaps the most stupid thing ever done by a corporate ceo. With leadership like that, ya gotta wonder how Apple even survives.

 

[Tantor]

No doubt Cook is smart enough to realize a con job when he see's one ....... and let's face it, Musk is just a Trump Jr., craving all the attention he can get ....

Trump has been a very good president, certainly far better than Obama or Biden could even think of being. Musk and Trump both became billionaires on their own merit. Cook, on the other hand, never founded anything. He effectively inherited a corporation that was built by others.

 

[wiyosaya]

Tesla was worth far more than 60 billion. Think of all the engineers, technicians, workers, facilities, land, patents, etc.

Musk offered Cook the deal of the century, and Cook wouldn't even speak him. Cook could have invested a few billion. He didn't have to buy the whole company. Cook was probably hoping that Tesla would fail and he could buy the pieces for even less money. Boy did he screw up.

It will do down as perhaps the most stupid thing ever done by a corporate ceo. With leadership like that, ya gotta wonder how Apple even survives.

And you were there to know what Musky offered. Got it!

 

[kiwigraeme]

Trump has been a very good president, certainly far better than Obama or Biden could even think of being. Musk and Trump both became billionaires on their own merit. Cook, on the other hand, never founded anything. He effectively inherited a corporation that was built by others.

By merit do you mean Daddy's money - And Russian money laundering .
By better do you mean Amercans standing in the world , number of deaths from Covid , increased hatred. Worse environment , more corporate social welfare and rape.
No western country envy's the USA at the moment - we see a crumbling empire - becoming less and less relevant - hacked left right and centre by Russia and China .
I do not think you reallised how despise America became under Trump - you guys have normally got away with quiet economic bullying - now the whiny baby in chief is crying this is not fair , that is not fair - when your actions have hurt lots of people around the world.

 

[SixTymes]

Why would apple spend money when they already have taken apart many tesla cars to rip off and copy ideas for free, like apple does with everything else they offer.

 

[wiyosaya]

Why would apple spend money when they already have taken apart many tesla cars to rip off and copy ideas for free, like apple does with everything else they offer.

For anyone who does not believe this, find a copy of this movie - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2104994/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3 at your local library and hear Steve Jobs, himself, admit having been to Xerox Parc and copying their ideas.

 

[DZillaXx]

Apple is selling $300 phones for $1400

Apple is selling $50 headphones for $550.

Apple has made its way into just about every new car sale with Apple Play.


Why on earth would they need the liability of selling cars?

Honestly the only real thing apple has going for it is their mobile division. The rest of their departments are small game and won't keep the lights on. Considering the USA is one of the only few markets where iPhones really have a respectable market share. And that can easily go away.

Apple's iCloud is a joke compared to the competition, but it works well enough to be a built in backup solution. But Apple has no Cloud presence. They rely on 3rd party solutions, like Amazon. This is only going to hurt them in the long run.

Siri is also bottom of the barrel for home assistants. Worse than Crotona. So again not doing so well in a area that is booming. A smart home will only be more common in the future. And apple's attempt to join that party is a huge joke.

Best thing apple can do is diversify. Otherwise they will fade away just as fast as they blew up. Customer Loyalty only goes so far.

 

[Endymio]

No western [sic] country envy's [sic] the USA...I do not think you reallised [sic] how despise [sic] America became under Trump - you guys have normally got [sic] away with quiet economic bullying...

Is English no longer the official language of New Zealand?