Tim Cook says ‘F ** k you’ to Elon Musk after Tesla boss says he wants to be Apple CEO

Tim Cook clicked ‘F ** k you’ on Elon Musk after Tesla boss said he wanted to be CEO of Apple in exchange for selling his car business to tech giant, new book says .

“I am the CEO,” Musk reportedly told Cook during the alleged phone call, which allegedly took place in 2016, explaining his condition for the sale.

Cook believed Musk meant he wanted to stay at the helm of the auto start-up, but was stunned when the South African entrepreneur made it clear he wanted to be Apple’s boss.

“F *** you” Cook reportedly responded, according to a Los Angeles Times review of journalist Tim Higgins’ upcoming book Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century.

According to Higgins’ book, the exchange between Musk and Cook took place during a phone call in which Cook allegedly offered Apple to buy Tesla, amid a particularly difficult time for the electric car maker.

At the time, Musk’s job and the company’s future were on the line, as Tesla rushed to roll out the crucial Model 3 budget before the end of September of that year, in order to save. these sales for the quarter and allay investor fears. the future of the automotive start-up.

Musk’s only request, if the two companies agreed to such a buyout, was to be installed as the tech giant’s new CEO.

The new book also documents what the author claims to be Elon Musk’s mercurial temperament and chronicles several episodes of rage he flew into during his tenure as CEO of Tesla, particularly the stressful time of September 2018.

Musk had set himself an ambitious goal of delivering 100,000 Model 3s by the end of the quarter – more cars than the company sold in the previous year – and an anecdote tells how he chewed a manager who told him it was unrealistic.

On an overnight conference call, an official with years of experience overseeing Army National Guard supply chains told him the company was set to deliver 80,000 cars for the quarter and that his goal of 100,000 was impossible.

Within days, Musk fired the manager, according to the book, telling other executives he was disappointed with his “fundamental inability to perform.”

In the end, Tesla’s shipments reached 83,500 for the quarter, almost exactly what the fired manager predicted.

Musk refuted many of the book’s claims, stating in a tweet, “Higgins managed to make his book both bogus * and * boring.”

In another daily conference call described in the book, Musk allegedly took on Las Vegas sales manager Cayle Hunter even as he announced plans for a record 1,700 people to retrieve their model. 3 in the next few days.

Musk ordered Hunter to double the number the next day and threatened to fire him if he called a single customer, insisting that texting was better.

Hunter panicked because the Las Vegas store didn’t have the hundreds of corporate cellphones needed to text thousands of customers, but came up with a solution using software that allowed to his team to send SMS from their computers.

Barely nine months into his job, with his wife and children only recently moving to join him in Las Vegas, Hunter was desperate to lose his job and prompted his team to embark on a frantic activity.

Often they didn’t even wait for a customer to respond to a text before dropping them off for the assigned pickup time, warning buyers they would have to wait until the next quarter if they didn’t make the appointment. designated.

By the end of the day, Hunter’s team had reached 5,000 dates and he swallowed his tears as he gathered them to thank them, without revealing that his job was on the line.

In another case, the book claims Musk got angry when a manager made it known he was leaving the company.

Musk confronted the manager of the Fremont delivery center, shouting curses and berating the man.

“I don’t want anyone here who abandons me for such an important time as now,” Musk reportedly said.

Musk followed the manager into the parking lot, continuing the confrontation, according to the book.

The incident even prompted a board investigation after rumors Musk physically pushed the man, although the board ultimately said there had been no altercation. physical, according to the book.

Another incident described in the book predates the pressure cooker weeks of September 2018.

According to a Los Angeles Times reviewer, the book claims Musk has already asked to be named CEO of Apple when discussing a possible Tesla buyout with Tim Cook – although Musk and Cook deny ever speaking.

In 2016, Apple CEO Cook called Musk to propose the acquisition of the electric automaker, which was struggling financially before the Model 3 was unveiled, according to the book.

Musk expressed interest in the idea but had one condition, telling Cook, “I’m CEO.”

Cook initially thought Musk meant he wanted to remain CEO of Tesla after the merger, and said he wasn’t opposed to the idea.

But when Musk made it clear that he expected to take Cook’s job as Apple CEO, Cook replied “F *** you” and hung up, according to the new book.

Apple denies the conversation took place – and says, in fact, Cook never even spoke to Musk.

Musk also refuted the report in a tweet, writing, “Cook and I have never spoken or written to each other.”

“There was a time when I asked to meet with Cook to talk about Apple’s purchase of Tesla. No vesting condition has been proposed. He refused to meet. Tesla was worth around 6% of today’s value, ”added Musk.

Higgins, the reporter, hit back in his own tweet, writing: “Musk had many opportunities to comment on this. He didn’t. This anecdote comes from Musk’s own account of the conversation, according to people who have commented on this. heard the story at the time.

The book was apparently written without any cooperation from Musk. When given the opportunity to comment, Higgins said Musk declined, except to tell the author: “Most, but not all, of what you read in this book is nonsense. . “

Many anecdotes revealed in the book highlight what the author suggests to be Musk’s mercurial temperament.

In one case, a worker at the Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif., Told Musk he had found a way to fix the screeching noise of a car window by making an incision in the seal, according to the book. .

Musk got angry with manufacturing director John Ensign, who was in attendance, demanding to know why he hadn’t come up with the solution.

“It’s unacceptable that you have someone working in your factory who knows the solution and you don’t even know it! Musk would have said.

Musk fired Ensign, who was in fact aware of the proposed fix, but didn’t want to embarrass the factory worker by revealing that engineers had tried it before, but found it only worked temporarily.

According to the LA Times review, the book focuses more on Tesla’s story than Musk personally, highlighting the accomplishments of lesser-known employees, many of whom left after facing off against Musk.

Earlier this week, Tesla announced that its quarterly profit exceeded $ 1 billion for the first time, and the company is now valued at $ 680 billion.

The financial milestone announced on Monday extended a two-year boom that erased questions about Tesla’s long-term viability raised in its first years of losses and production problems.

Tesla has now consolidated its leadership position in moving away from gas combustion, which should make it even more profitable than in its last quarter.

Musk holds the second largest personal fortune in the world at $ 185 billion on Thursday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Despite all of its recent successes, Tesla’s momentum could still be slowed down by a persistent shortage of chips that have become vital parts of modern cars.

While other major automakers had to cut production significantly in the first half of the year, Tesla has so far been able to secure an adequate supply of chips to produce vehicles at the fastest rate in its history. .

In the last quarter, Tesla delivered more than 206,000 vehicles in three months for the first time in its history. It is also preparing to add another sport utility vehicle, the Model Y, to its lineup later this year.