Report: Apple Offered to Buy Tesla in 2013

Apple Inc. offered to buy Tesla Inc. at $240 per share in 2013, a Wall Street analyst tells MSNBC’s “Squawk Box” financial television show.

Describing the proposal as a “serious bid,” Craig Irwin, an analyst at Roth Capital Partners, says he confirmed the report with several sources. He speculates that Apple still may be interested in buying Tesla at “the right price.”

Apple and Tesla declined to comment. But in 2014, Tesla CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that he met with Apple the previous year. At the time, Musk said it was "very unlikely" he would sell the company.

A $240 offer would have been significantly higher than Tesla’s current share price, which closed yesterday at $205. Tesla’s value has plunged 45% since mid-December, when shares were trading at nearly $377, due to investor concerns about production problems related to the high-volume Model 3 electric sedan.

Apple has hired several former Tesla executives in recent years. They include Michael Schwekutsch, who joined Apple in April as senior director of engineering for the tech company’s secretive Project Titan autonomous car program. Apple also poached engineering executives Doug Field and Jaime Waydo from Tesla.