Apple reportedly made “serious bid” to buy Tesla in 2013, offering $240 per-share
Apple reportedly made a “serious bid” to purchase Tesla in 2013, with the company said to have offered the electric car producer $240 per-share to acquire the automotive technology to be used for “Project Titan,” Apple’s long-rumored “Apple Car” project.
Speaking on CNBC on Tuesday, Roth Capital Partners analyst Craig Irwin claimed Apple was at the “formal paperwork stage” of a deal with Tesla before the deal collapsed, though no details on why the alleged negotiations ended were shared.
Asides from the claims by Irwin, no other sources have indicated Apple had attempted to acquire Tesla, although the move to take over the American automotive company would fit nicely with the company’s rumored plans to develop an Apple-branded self driving electric vehicle.
Since the failed Tesla take-over, Apple has thought to have been internally building its own technology from the ground-up, with reports in 2017 suggesting the company had been in talks with China’s largest automotive battery maker in regards to the two companies working together on a “confidential project” believed to be “Project Titan”, with Apple themselves saying in a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S DOT) that the company is interested in “the future of transportation”.
Irwin went on to say “Apple is building multiple very large drive rooms in California,” and that Apple’s “Apple Car” dream is still very much alive, despite reports claiming this year that 200 employees have been lid off from the project.
We’ve reached out to Apple for comment on the claims.