Did you know: Elon Musk almost sold Tesla to Google in 2013

According to Bloomberg News, which published an excerpt from the upcoming biography Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, the serial entrepreneur was just a few negotiation points away from selling his Telsa motor company to Larry Page and the folks at Google in 2013.

The technology billionaire was struggling to get his electric vehicle company to profit due to technical problems on its flagship Model S; in fact, things were so bad the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. 

Citing two sources close to the situation, the biography details how Musk sought a company willing to purchase Tesla and keep it afloat. 

Specifically, Musk reached out to Google’s co-founder Larry Page with the following proposal: buy Tesla for $6 billion and promise an additional $5 billion in factory expansions. He also required that he be permitted to run Tesla as a unit of Google for eight years, or until Tesla produced a third-generation car. 

While Page declined to comment on the matter, Bloomberg reports he “accepted the overall proposal” and the two sides began negotiating the finer points of the deal.

This all took place in March 2013 — come May of that same year, Tesla’s fortunes began to change. The company reported its first profit during this month, and this was due in large part to an intense drive overseen by Musk that tackled the technical glitches plaguing the Model S. News of Musk’s efforts were publicized and as the car improved, there was a jump in orders for the Model S. 

News of the good earnings sent Tesla shares higher than they had ever reached. As a result, negotiations with Google ended immediately, as Musk’s company no longer needed saving. 

The fallout from the negotiations has not soured the two sides’ relationship with one another — in early 2015, Google and investments company Fidelity poured $1 billion in to Musk’s SpaceX program, a private space-travel technology venture he is pursuing.

Via Phys.org