Could Apple Really Buy Tesla?

It's not a well-kept secret that Apple has been working on autonomous vehicle technology under its "Project Titan" program with the intent of one day building its own self-driving EV. While Apple's secrecy makes it hard to say how far along it is in this endeavor, there are a few things the tech giant could do to speed things up, assuming it's still behind the curve. It could, for one, acquire Tesla.

In fact, Apple already thought of that back in 2013, according to what Roth Capital Partners analyst Craig Irwin told CNBC. Back then, Apple offered to acquire Tesla for about $240 a share, but talks crumbled when Apple supposedly stipulated that Elon Musk had to step down as Tesla's leader if the deal went through.

"Around 2013, there was a serious bid from Apple at around $240 a share," said Irwin during an interview on SquawkBox. "This is something we did multiple checks on. I have complete confidence that this is accurate. Apple bid for Tesla. I don't know if it got to a formal paperwork stage, but I know from multiple different sources that this was very credible."

The reason a Tesla acquisition by Apple is relevant again is that the automaker's stock price has taken a nosedive in recent months. This year alone, Tesla's stock has fallen 38% and is down 46% from its peak in 2018. At one point, Tesla's market cap even blew past Ford's and went on to a high of over $400 in August of 2018, just before Musk infamously announced he had secured funding to take the company private at $420 a share. But a sharp drop in sales has led Tesla's stock to fall to $193.26 as of this writing, less than the $240-per-share offer Apple supposedly made in 2013.