Tesla investor Ross Gerber has told CNBC that, for the sake of both companies, Apple should buy a stake in Tesla.
Gerber, who is co-founder & CEO of Gerber Kawasaki, stated that an investment from Apple in Tesla could be helping hand needed to lift the company up from the problems it is currently facing.
“If you look at actually what Elon’s problems are every day, they are operational, which is why Tim Cook was hired by Steve Jobs back in the day. Cook is perfect for this role,” Gerber had said. “In the past Apple and Tesla probably wouldn’t have gotten along because Musk didn’t need Apple, but it is clear he needs help [now].”
It is not a secret that Tesla has learned how to deal with combining automotive technologies with modern software through trial and error, paired up with constant delays and issues with automating production. Now Tesla managed to figure out how to make thousands of cars a week, but it has all come with a price – very negative press, Elon Musk’s chaotic tweets and cash balances that go up and down, lacking status quo.
It does not make a lot of sense for Tesla to continue as a public company if it plans to reach its full potential.
Credit: CNBC
Meanwhile, Apple investors worry that the stagnating iPhone sales might put the company at risk.
Gerber states that his “biggest fear with Apple is that they have fallen so far behind in the innovation curve, I don’t see where they will be five years from now. I don’t think phones are going to be the primary device in a decade.”
Apple does have enough money, maybe more than enough, to buy out Tesla, if they so felt inclined. It could prove to be a good opportunity for Apple to stretch out into the automotive industry, which is something they have hinted at trying to do before, with a very secretive self-driving car project that has been going on for years, but which Gerber says “is going nowhere”.
During a conference in 2017 though, when asked about partnering up with Apple, Elon Musk stated he was not interested in the concept, though he had admitted the company had had “conversations with Apple.”
Judging by Gerber’s thoughts and worries, perhaps Musk should consider another conversation.
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