Elon Musk confirms talk with Apple, says acquisition is “very unlikely”

Rumors of Apple showing interest in buying Tesla resurfaced earlier this week after the SF Chronicle reported that Apple’s M&A chief met with Elon Musk last spring. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Musk confirmed that Tesla did have conversations with Apple, but he couldn’t comment on whether they revolved around any kind of acquisition. Musk also said that a Tesla sale is “very unlikely,” because there currently isn’t any scenario that would improve the probability of it creating a mass-market affordable and compelling electric car.

On Wednesday, Tesla Motors TSLA -4.97% CEO Elon Musk reported solid earnings and the serial executive also discussed the company’s future, including a massive battery “gigafactory” and the upcoming third-generation Model X on a conference call.  But perhaps the biggest news to come from Musk’s mouth came in another call with Bloomberg Television right after the earnings report, in which Musk claimed that Tesla would lead the way in nascent autonomous car technology, and also admitted to meeting with Apple AAPL -1.56% about… something. “We had conversations with Apple. I can’t comment on whether those revolved around any kind of acquisition,” Musk told Bloomberg’s Betty Liu.