Instead of focusing on matters such as why the new Apple Watch is triggering trypophobia (fear of objects with irregular patterns of holes) in some people, Apple's shareholders are apparently more interested in buying Tesla Motors.->ke1842 The issue came up at Apple's annual shareholder's meeting earlier this week, when a number of company investors tried getting information about a rumored Tesla Motors buyout from Tim Cook, CEO of Apple.
Speculative rumors about Apple preparing to buy Tesla have been going on for months, with media outlets reporting that Tesla CEO Elon Musk had met with Apple's chief of mergers and acquisitions, Adrian Perica, as early as spring 2013. On top of that, the two companies are constantly poaching employees from each other, and more recent reports speculate that Apple may even be working on an electric car project of its own to battle Google's future autonomous car.
Adding more fuel to the fire, Elon Musk himself admitted that he was approached by Apple, although he declined to offer any specific details about the encounter. With Apple having around $180 billion to play with, money wouldn't exactly be an issue, although such a big buyout would likely be done as quietly as possible in order to keep Tesla's stock down. (Good luck with that.) Shareholder interest in a tie-up between the two companies is not coming out of the blue, since Apple does seem interested in entering the automotive industry one way or another.
Continue reading to learn if Apple plans to buy Tesla.
Why it matters
As tantalizing as the idea may seem, I find it hard to believe that Apple or any other company will take over Tesla in the upcoming years. The carmaker has had its ups and downs, and in many ways it is still a startup, but long gone are the days when a $50 million cash infusion from Daimler was needed to save the company from bankruptcy.
Tesla is busy expanding its lineup to three cars, while the continuous expansion of the Supercharger network and the building of a "battery gigafactory" are sure signs that its value will only go up. This would render a takeover from Apple almost impossible, not to mention that Musk doesn't look like the kind of guy who would go for the money instead of achieving even more success with his products on his own.