Elon Musk Reportedly Once Tried to Become CEO of Apple

Once upon a time, Elon Musk tried to be CEO of Apple, according to a new book. The book explains that at some point, Apple tried to acquire Elon Musk’s Tesla. And Musk agreed to sell the EV company if he was made Apple CEO. But Tim Cook said “no deal,” or more like “f*** you.”

The news has generated a lot of buzz on social media. Elon Musk himself has reacted to it on Twitter: “Cook & I have never spoken or written to each other ever. There was a point where I requested to meet with Cook to talk about Apple buying Tesla. There were no conditions of acquisition proposed whatsoever. He refused to meet. Tesla was worth about 6% of today’s value.”

So the rumors may or may not be true. But either way, it’s still intriguing when you think about it: Elon Musk as Apple CEO. And it begs the question, how would Apple actually look like under Musk’s leadership? What path would Apple have taken under him? Let’s look at one prospect.

Apple EV Car: Elon Musk’s Legacy as CEO?

In 2014, news broke that Apple was in talks with some automakers about a new project: the Apple Car; a new state-of-the-art, next-generation autonomous vehicle in the making.

In 2020, the reports were confirmed. Apparently, Apple was collaborating with carmaker Hyundai and other auto manufacturers to build the vehicle. There were also suggestions that Apple was building the next big thing in battery tech to give the car the very best performance.

But when everybody was getting more and more curious about the project, negotiations suddenly fell apart. And the project was all but called off for an undisclosed reason.

However, had Elon Musk been Apple CEO, it stands to reason that Apple car would have rolled out by now, built by Tesla of course. And perhaps, the car would have been Apple’s most defining product, and not the iPhone. An interesting turn of events, won’t you agree?

Still, Tim Cook has done a terrific job as Apple CEO. And Elon Musk has equally done a marvelous job at Tesla. So perhaps, it’s for the best that things turned out the way they did.