Elon Musk Denies Speaking To Tim Cook About Apple Buying Tesla

So the alleged conversation in which Cook said ‘f*** you’ to Musk never actually happened, according to the Tesla CEO.

Elon Musk

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Aug 2, 2021 at 6:58am ET

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There has been much speculation on the topic of Apple buying Tesla and the conversations between the leaders of the two companies. Most recently, in a book called 'Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century', its author Tim Higgins (a Wall Street Journal journalist) claimed that a conversation between Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook took place and it didn’t end on the best terms.

Higgins writes in his book that Musk and Cook were on a phone call discussing the possible acquisition of Tesla by Apple back in 2016. The author claims that it was the Apple boss who called Musk to discuss a possible takeover and that the latter wasn’t interested in the offer because he still wanted to be CEO even after Apple would have taken the reigns.

However, according to Higgins, Cook allegedly said that would not be possible and that he ended up hanging up the phone, but not before he said ‘f*** you’ to Musk. Yet now the Tesla boss has taken to Twitter to dispel this rumor, simply saying that it never happened and that he never spoke to Cook either in person via any other means.

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Musk goes on to say, as he previously has, that he asked for a meeting between himself and Cook to be arranged, in order to discuss the possible Apple takeover, but that Cook refused to meet and nothing happened after that. Had this meeting actually taken place, Musk’s career path would have been quite different, especially if he would not have been allowed to continue as CEO at Tesla, although he probably would not have gone through with the takeover if his position was not guaranteed.

Perhaps he will elaborate more on this topic in the future and put an end to speculation, because this topic seems to keep cropping up. What's also worth noting is the fact that Tim Cook previously confirmed, during an appearance on the NY Times Sway podcast, that he and Musk have never actually talked, but that he respects his work and the company that he's built.

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