Since the acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, Elon Musk has faced many bumps in his other ventures’ development. Twitter suffered a financial loss after advertisers refused to invest in advertising on the platform. So, when Musk was focusing on executing his vision for the microblogging platform, his other ventures, like Tesla, were suffering.
The shareholders at Tesla were upset, and the billionaire was involved in many lawsuits, including the $420 tweet about Tesla going private. The customers also had many complaints about the Tesla models. However, in 2023, Tesla had $23.33 billion in revenue, against the expected $23.21 billion. The stock prices have also risen to 60% from 50% in 2022. However, a decade ago, Tesla was almost going bankrupt and was sold to Google for less than its valuation.
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Elon Musk Was Ready To Sell Tesla For $6 Billion To Google In 2013
Tesla, the futuristic electric car company, has had a tumultuous journey since its beginning. Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard were the brains behind the idea of solar-powered vehicles in 2003. In 2004, investors like Ian Wright, Elon Musk, and JB Straubel came on board to execute the vision of the two engineers.
After a series of funding rounds, the company was ready to launch its first vehicle when the global financial crisis hit the world in 2008. However, Musk stood right behind the venture and pitched in money from his side to launch the car and save the company from bankruptcy.
However, the problems did not end there for Tesla. In 2013, the company was again on the brink of bankruptcy. Elon Musk and Tesla were positive about the pre-sales of the Model S. But the pre-sales were not translating into actual sales. Due to this, Musk took help from his friend and Google co-founder, Larry Page. The car lacked many safety, software, and interior features. So, in 2013, the billionaire and Google struck a $6 billion deal, along with $5 billion in capital expenditures.
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The Billionaire Also Planned To Sell Tesla To Apple
Elon Musk told Larry Page that he remains the owner of the Google-owned Tesla. The deal also made sure that Tesla remained an independent company until it launched a new electric car on the market. Tesla was making cold calls during the deal negotiation. But the calls came to fruition when people started buying the Model S. During the first quarter of that year, Tesla projected $11 million in profits and $562 million in revenue.
During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, 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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 22, 2020
In 2020, Elon Musk tweeted that during the “darkest days” of Tesla’s Model 3 launch, he wanted to sell the company to Apple. However, Tim Cook refused to have a meeting about the acquisition. Elon Musk wrote, “During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, 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.”
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