In March of 2013, Tesla was in a dire situation: the company was nearly bankrupt, its electric vehicles failing to connect with buyers. But according to a new report from Bloomberg today, Elon Musk had a contingency plan: cash out with Google.
As Tesla was on the downward slope, Elon Musk turned to his friend Larry Page, suggesting Google buy the company, plus $5 billion in factory expenses. It's unclear what the exact offer was, but as Bloomberg points out, Tesla was worth $6 billion at the time. Musk also reportedly asked Page to guarantee him either another eight years running the company, or enough time to produce a third-generation, mainstream electric car.
The talks, according to Bloomberg, were far along. Page reportedly "accepted the overall proposal and shook on the deal." Lawyers spent the next few weeks hammering out details, but it never quite closed.
As we know, the deal never went anywhere. Tesla turned around from the edge of bankruptcy. The company ended up posting a profit in the next few weeks, and even paid back its debts to the Department of Energy. Musk reportedly broke off the deal with Google soon after.
Apple was also rumored to be interested in buying Tesla last year, a deal with a very different tenor than the reported Google buyout. With the news that Apple is working on a car, that speculation has intensified, with investors suggesting Apple would have to pay $75 billion for the car maker.
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Comments
Sorta glad that didn’t pan out..
By motorulz7 on 04.20.15 8:57am
I would be interested to know how the company would be different with Google owning it. I do think Musk has done a great job with it though.
By inimrepus on 04.20.15 9:19am
"has continued to be a great product" I think could be up for debate. If we’re talking about the whole company, they’re at best batting .500
By Drewyboy on 04.20.15 10:41am
Dang, wrong reply. My bad.
By Drewyboy on 04.20.15 10:43am
Easy, you see that big touchpad screen on every Tesla? Imagine the ads Google would show you! What a real state for Google.
I hope Tesla stays always with Musk.
By oliversl on 04.20.15 11:08am
The ads would be determined by comparing a list of Google advertisers along the route that the car was traveling against a combination of search terms and gmail mentions of product category. Buy a domino’s pizza online, get an email confirmation, and for the six months following your Google car would alert you every time you were within a couple blocks of a Domino’s, and map it for you on your G(oogle)PS.
By Dorkus Maximus on 04.20.15 11:40am
It would actually very much likely be running Android Auto, and there wouldn’t be ads (have you even checked out AndroidAuto?).
By jt122333221 on 04.20.15 7:36pm
I am totally fine either way. Google would have let tesla run independantly likely.
By UtopiaNH on 04.20.15 9:22am
Yeah, sure! Just like they promised for Nest.
By escan on 04.20.15 9:31am
And nest has continued to be a great product and has been run mostly independant.
Yup, it’s a good example.
By UtopiaNH on 04.20.15 10:14am
"has continued to be a great product" I think could be up for debate. If we’re talking about the whole company, they’re at best batting .500
By Drewyboy on 04.20.15 10:42am
?
I own a Nest, and it’s saved a shitload of money, and been really convenient for me.
By UtopiaNH on 04.20.15 12:09pm
Batting .500 is actually amazing in strictly baseball terms
By rahulp on 04.20.15 3:47pm
Why? Don’t you have nest(.)com, an iOS AND android app? You think this would have been possible with an acquisition by Apple?
By BenMasters on 04.20.15 10:18am
Not guaranteed but definitely possible.
By p_giguere1 on 04.20.15 11:49am
That was already there though. I feel like the "new" Apple is becoming more aware that they need to open up to other platforms, but they’ve yet to take the jump.
By jt122333221 on 04.20.15 7:38pm
That makes all of us.
By TCrimson05t on 04.20.15 11:17am
the less skynet-ish the better. I would be scared to buy a google-mobile.. kinda like how I’m scared of buying into Nest
By TheReyRocka on 04.20.15 11:30am
Irrational fear is no fun. You should see a professional about that.
In other words, people like you always freak out about such things. The sky isn’t falling because Google wants to buy/has bought another company.
By Trent Archer on 04.21.15 4:26am
If Mosk really would have secured his Independence in leading the company (which seems Google accepted), this could be a good thing! Imagine integration of Google technology to Tesla (Google is already leading self driving technology). Not to mention that Google’s support will shorten the long way that Tesla has to make an affordable main-stream car.
By Fredi on 04.20.15 12:26pm
There is a certain type of apple fan that not only prefers apple products but HATES google. I’d have wanted to see it at least tossed out in public as a likely possibility to see what won out, peoples love of tesla set against their HATRED of google.
By Alar's Ashes on 04.20.15 6:00pm
I think it’s what most people see as the idea of "Market Speculation Valuation", wherein one of the most innovative companies is suddenly in need of dire help and is willing to be sold for a relatively affordable price and then bounces back because they really can, so their value skyrockets upwards then. Just a thought.
By keano13 on 04.20.15 10:40pm
Again with that bs talk with Apple buying tesla, why? Tesla has nothing that Apple would want at that price tag. Tim Cook is too smart to make that dumb of a mistake, not a $75 billion mistake.
By forkseli on 04.20.15 9:09am
You realize that buying Tesla would put Elon Musk himself on your team right? That in and of itself is worth some cash.
By PkL728 on 04.20.15 9:33am
And what exactly does that mean? Elon would not want to stay at Apple, even this story said Larry Page asked for 8 years because he knew people like Elon hates that and would look to leave right after.
By forkseli on 04.20.15 9:45am