Apple CEO refused meeting about buying Tesla at USD 60 billion: Musk

San Francisco: Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he once considered selling the electric car maker to Apple, but the iPhone maker’s CEO blew off the meeting.

In a tweet Tuesday, Musk said he reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook “to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for one-tenth of our current value).

He refused to take the meeting.” Tesla’s market value is USD 616 billion, as of the close of trading Tuesday. One-tenth of that is USD 61.6 billion.

Musk said he sought out the meeting with Cook “during the darkest days of the Model 3 program,” a reference to Tesla’s first electric car designed for the mass market.

As recently as 2018, Tesla was struggling to meet its vehicle production goals and turn a profit.

Tesla’s fortunes have changed since then. The automaker is finally making money on a consistent basis after years of losses and continues to hit milestones for deliveries of its vehicles.

Its shares have soared 665 per cent this year alone, making it the world’s most valuable automaker and among the top 10 biggest US companies in the S&P 500 index, which Tesla entered on Monday.

Musk’s tweet followed published reports suggesting Apple is working on developing its own electric cars. Apple declined to comment.