Did Apple try to buy Tesla last year?
Almost one year ago exactly, Thomas Lee and David R. Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Apple's head of M&A met with Elon Musk.
They wrote, "such a high-level meeting between the two Silicon Valley giants involving their top dealmakers suggests Apple was very much interested in buying the electric car pioneer."
Elon Musk went on to confirm that he had been talking with Apple.
"We had conversations with Apple," he told Bloomberg's Betty Liu."I can't comment whether those revolved around an acquisition."
Musk does not deny that there may have been talks. Instead he deflects, and says, "If there was a scenario where it seemed like it would be more likely that we would be able to create the mass market sort of affordable compelling electric car, then possibly it would make sense to entertain those discussions. But, I don't currently see any scenario that would improve that probability so that's why it's very unlikely."
The Wall Street Journal reports Apple CEO "approved the car project almost a year ago," which is right when Apple was meeting with Tesla.
This is just speculation on our part, but it seems like Apple met with Tesla about a potential acquisition, or partnership. But, Musk may not have wanted to sell to Apple because his vision was not aligned with Apple's vision. Or maybe he didn't think Apple could bring much to the table.