14 DAY TRIAL // After the SF Chronicle reported that Apple sat down with Tesla to talk about a potential acquisition / merger, the electric sports car maker’s shares soared to an all-time high.
Tesla rose 2.8 percent to $203.70 (€148.19) in New York trading yesterday, mere days ahead of the company’s scheduled fourth-quarter earnings call.
The rise in valuation is solely attributed to SF Chronicle’s article about Apple’s head of mergers and acquisitions meeting with Tesla chief Elon Musk at the 1 Infinite Loop headquarters of Apple Inc. to discuss a potential buyout.
The meeting is said to have taken place in early 2013, but the news somehow only hit the wires now.
Bloomberg reports: “Musk, who is also Tesla’s biggest shareholder, told Bloomberg in a May 2013 interview that he had no plans to step away from the company for ‘several years’ and that an acquisition by another carmaker wasn’t likely. Still, being acquired is ‘one of the possible outcomes,’ he said, adding that a potential buyer would have to have a big cash position.”
While Apple certainly has enough cash to buy two Teslas, James Albertine, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co., warns that “‘There’s no indication’ an acquisition is a serious possibility now,” according to the report.