With news that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is exploring the possibility of making an electric car, comparisons with Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) which makes the vaunted Model S luxury electric sedan are inevitable.
Furthermore, given Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s massive hoard of cash which some analysts say is about $180 billion, the possibility of the iPhone maker buying Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) outright may have touched some people’s minds.
According to Betty Liu of Bloomberg, though Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) founder Elon Musk has said that an acquisition by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is “very unlikely,” the popular inventor and entrepreneur did not close the door on the possibility.
“He’s never closed the door on a possible acquisition at some point. You have to think that at some point, there is some sort of exit strategy here for Elon Musk. The more his company develops, the closer he gets to those goals, the more attractive Tesla Motors becomes, there must be at some price and at some package where Elon Musk might say, ‘You know what, it’s a good idea for me to sell the company,’” Liu told her colleague Emily Chang.
One investor and entrepreneur who thinks a possible acquisition between two tech luminaries is possible is Jason Calacanis who believes Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will buy Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) for a whopping $75 billion. Though the car maker’s market capitalization is at about $25.7 billion, the iPhone maker has to make a very attractive offer for Musk to even consider.
If Calacanis proves to be right, the iPhone maker will buy the electric car maker just before its low cost Model 3 sedan comes out. Liu says that if the time comes that Musk will consider a sale, people should expect a lot of suitors for the deal.
Nonetheless, Ashlee Vance of Bloomberg Businessweek told Liu and Chang that he doesn’t think Musk will sell Tesla as he thinks it’s not about the money for the entrepreneur. Musk already has a lot of money and other businesses that make money for him, added Vance.
Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP was still the biggest institutional investor in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by the end of 2014 with about 52.76 million shares.
John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management owned 684,456 Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares by the end of 2014.
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