Elon Musk Reportedly Demanded to Become Apple CEO as Part of Potential Tesla Acquisition [Update: Musk Denies]

[lordofthereef]

Clearly this was Musk's "F YOU" to Tim for the offer in the first place. People (including myself) keep underestimating Tesla.

On a more serious note, will be interesting to see what the EV market looks like now that there are some real players entering the ring. Of course, chip shortages are still in Tesla's favor.

 

[satchmo]

What most of us see is smiling ‘Good Morning’, Tim Cook.

There are stories of Tim being pretty nasty in meetings...so I can see this actually having happened.

 

[WLSON]

Patently false claim. Considering Tim Cook himself said he never talked with Musk.

 

[aevan]

Would've made Apple more competent with better products. Tim Cook is equivalent to Steve Ballmer.

Apple products have never been better under his leadership.

 

[AManInACan]

Elon Musk is nothing but a tech conman. He peddles his half baked garbage to the tech nerds with deep wallets. He’s not funny at all and using 14 year old memes isn’t a personality.

Elon has weird behavior but he's far from a con-man. He has created a new US automobile company with $1B sales last quarter and made 200,000 cars. If you want a con-man, look at Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola, who was indicted by a grand jury on three counts of criminal fraud.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

My gut feeling: this story and book is almost certainly not true. People who believe it are being played.

 

[CWallace]

Apple is now the laughing stock with most corporate I.T. types, because they still can't see that nobody wants a computer that's impossible to service or upgrade on your own, with as FEW ports as possible, all for a premium price.

And yet "nobody" have pushed Mac revenues to their highest peaks in history - to the tune of USD 35 billion in the past four quarters alone.

Heck, Tesla as a company in 2020 had total revenues just above what Mac as a division brought in over the same period.

 

[rictus007]

Amanda?

 

[lordofthereef]

Well if anyone has watched any of Tesla’s keynotes they leave a lot to be desired

Most keynotes leave a lot to be desired. They used to be just industry information bits until Apple made them spectacles. That's not a criticism, just that I don't think a keynote needs to be geared towards your consumers to get the information out there.

For me, even Apple's keynotes have been very different since we lost Jobs. He really made those keynotes into something special. I can't get through them anymore. Granted, that's the case with anything else from any other company too, unless it's really short.

 

[ghanwani]

If Musk were Apple CEO, his twitter feed would replace macrumors.

 

[JetBlack7]

Way to be diplomatic when negotiating.

No wonder Tim Cook refused to see him.

 

[lordofthereef]

And yet "nobody" have pushed Mac revenues to their highest peaks in history - to the tune of USD 35 billion in the past four quarters alone.

Which also is more than Tesla has made in the same period.

That doesn't make the statement made any less true. Tech companies, and Apple is a huge part of this, have really sold the consumer on disposable products. I suspect that smartphones were really THE product to usher in that mindset. It makes total business sense. The thing that irks me the most is the inability to upgrade/repair coupled with often needing dongles and hubs all while touting the environmentally friendliness of the process. Otherwise, it's just business.

 

[ilikewhey]

Lmao, Tim Cook is a savage. Steve Jobs was very adamant to have him as next CEO before he passed, for good reason. Other CEOs would’ve either caved or reject him nicely.

Elon Musk is nothing but a tech conman. He peddles his half baked garbage to the tech nerds with deep wallets. He’s not funny at all and using 14 year old memes isn’t a personality.

“F— you” - Tim Cook lmao

lol? under his leadership both the car industry and the space industry got flipped on its backs. thanks to elon EV actually became mainstream and lit a fire under all the legacy auto's asses.

 

[gmanist1000]

I never knew so many MacRumors readers hate Musk / Tesla. Apple and Tesla are the most innovative companies on the planet right now, and I’m surprised there’s so much hate. Both produce incredible products and this story doesn’t even sound believable.

 

[Gabebear]

Apple is now the laughing stock with most corporate I.T. types, because they still can't see that nobody wants a computer that's impossible to service or upgrade on your own, with as FEW ports as possible, all for a premium price. This was NOT the way Apple was going under Jobs, if you step back to, say, 2009 or 2010.

What "I.T. type" field isn't dominated by MacBooks? Honestly, it's weird how the overwhelming majority of programmers use MacBooks. https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-programmers-use-Macs

Jobs was known for aggressively killing off ports/features. An obvious extreme example being the original iMac where Macs got a reputation for making people need dongles for all their "current" stuff.

 

[poked]

This is news from 2016. Funny or not, why are we bringing it up now?

 

[macsplusmacs]

Now I know what to say to tell Musk if I ever meet him.

LOL!

 

[The Cappy]

Lmao, Tim Cook is a savage. Steve Jobs was very adamant to have him as next CEO before he passed, for good reason. Other CEOs would’ve either caved or reject him nicely.

Elon Musk is nothing but a tech conman. He peddles his half baked garbage to the tech nerds with deep wallets. He’s not funny at all and using 14 year old memes isn’t a personality.

“F— you” - Tim Cook lmao

Yeah, that SpaceX thing was never going to get off the ground. What a con. And the Series 3? I don’t think the factory made more than 3 or 4 of them.

Cook on the other hand, he’s been brilliant at squeezing every last penny from his most loyal customers. And what earth shattering things they’ve been. Apple Arcade, TV+. The world’s a different place now.

People said the exact same thing about Steve Jobs as you’re saying about Musk. But the guy knows his stuff and mostly delivers. The only fail has been the auto driving, and although it’s been a repeated mistake, their software really has been improving.

Also, you’re taking this story very seriously, considering both involved parties have said it didn’t happen.

 

[0924487]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly once demanded that he be made Apple CEO in a brief discussion of a potential acquisition with Apple's current CEO, Tim Cook. The claim comes in a new book titled "Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century," as reviewed by The Los Angeles Times.

According to the book, during a 2016 phone call between Musk and Cook that touched on the possibility of Apple purchasing Tesla, Musk told Cook that a purchase of Telsa by Apple could only go forward if he became CEO of the combined company. Elon Musk has previously claimed that he once reached out to Tim Cook to "discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla." Cook, according to Musk, declined to take the meeting. The new book claims that while a meeting never took place, a phone call between the two CEOs did. It is worth noting, however, that during an interview with The New York Times' Kara Swisher in April, Cook said he had never spoken to Musk but has "great admiration and respect" for Tesla.

Update: In a tweet, Elon Musk is denying the contents of the book, calling it both "false and boring."

Article Link: Elon Musk Reportedly Demanded to Become Apple CEO as Part of Potential Tesla Acquisition

I don't buy it. It's very unlikely. It's just rude.

 

[The Cappy]

…

Or hes just trolling and thinks it's hilarious..

Who exactly do you think is trolling? Both Cook and Musk have denied this.

 

[gusping]

So both say they never met. Why is this a story. Typical MR.

 

[AMP12345]

Ok, but like imagine how amazingly crazy an Elon run Apple could be.
We could have an Apple Cryptocurrency and proprietary super fast charging and probably a ton of random Easter Eggs in MacOS!

 

[Peperino]

I don't understand why the Elon Musk fanbase thinks he's some innovative genius.

I guess you might be a Cook fan... because Cook innovations in Apple are quite lame.
You seriously need to inform yourself before making ignorant comments.
Musk revolutionize the auto industry against all the fuel industry mafia.
Are you familiar with SpaceX?
Just google a little bit...

 

[danny1305]

If true I'm glad this didn't happen. I like reading about any Apple related news and rumours. I can't imagine seeing or listening to Musk any more than I already have to.

Well you didn’t have to click on this article, which was clearly about Musk. But you willingly did

 

[TonyC28]

I just can’t imagine Tim Cook responding that way, but it’s a cool story.