Apple CEO refused meeting to acquire Tesla dirt cheap: Musk

"During the darkest days of the Model 3 programme, 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," Musk said in a tweet.

New Delhi: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he offered Apple CEO Tim Cook to sell his electric car company at one-tenth of its current value during its struggling period in 2017 but Cook refused to meet him.

Those were the “darkest days” for Tesla Model 3, Musk admitted in a tweet, and he wanted to sell the company off.

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“During the darkest days of the Model 3 programme, 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,” Musk said in a tweet.

Apple was yet to comment on his tweet.

Musk’s tweet came as reports resurfaced that Apple is planning to introduce its first electric, autonomous car in 2024.

Musk had said during a media interview in 2018 that his electric car startup was close to death within “single-digit weeks”.

He had previously said that the company nearly went bankrupt in 2008, the year he took over as CEO, and that at the time Tesla had “less than a 10% likelihood to succeed.”

Tesla and Model 3, however, survived and the company went on to produce Model Y SUV and new vehicles like the Cybertruck.

On the other hand, Musk went on to surpass Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the second-richest person in the world.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index last month put the Tesla chief executive — with a $127.9 billion fortune above Gates at $127.7 billion — for the first time.

In the third quarter of 2020 that ended on September 30, Tesla produced 145,000 vehicles and delivered 139,300. Of that number, Tesla produced under 17,000 Model S and X vehicles, delivering 15,200 of them.

After spending his most life in California, Musk has finally relocated to Texas, calling California ‘complacent’.

Tesla is building its next factory in Austin.

The move to Texas makes sense for him as it has no state income tax while California has the highest tax regime in the country.