After wide speculation surfaced recently regarding Apple being interested in acquiring electric car company Tesla, CEO Elon Musk has recently been publicly quoted saying that this is not the case, sort of.
Musk said that he and Apple did indeed meet recently but that he was not willing to disclose the details of the talk. He said he can't "comment on whether those revolved around any kind of acquisition," in an interview recently with Bloomberg. When asked during that interview whether or not Tesla was up for sale, Musk responded saying that while the company would consider discussions along these lines, it would have to be a deal with like-minded individuals and that even then there isn't currently a scenario that makes sense. At this point the Tesla CEO says the company is focused on creating a "compelling mass market electric car."
Initial rumors regarding Apple's interest in Tesla spawned from a San Francisco Chronicle report that said Musk met with Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions (and possibly CEO Tim Cook) in the Spring of last year. While the idea of Apple purchasing Tesla was floated around quite a lot, it sounds as though there is a chance it could have been more to do with integrating Apple's iOS tech into Tesla vehicles. Apple has previously made similar deals with major automotive companies like Ford, Audi and General Motors, among others.
When asked about integrating Apple's tech into its vehicles, the Tesla CEO told Bloomberg the company would certainly consider implementing Android and iOS software, but it just isn't the company's focus at this point. "That's somewhat peripheral to the fundamental goal of Tesla, which is to accelerate the electric car revolution, to make it happen," Musk said in the interview. It seems almost inevitable that these technologies would get integrated into Teslas in some way or another, but an acquisition seems a little bit more unlikely at this point.