Elon Musk Asked Tim Cook To Make Him CEO Of Apple, Book Claims

As if Elon Musk isn't running enough companies, he once may have suggested taking over as CEO of America's most valuable business, Apple, Clare Duffy reported for CNN Business.

Photo Insert: Apple CEO Tim Cook speaking at Austin Community College (ACC)

Five years ago, in the midst of manufacturing delays and other issues plaguing Tesla's planned Model 3 launch, Musk is said to have had a phone call with Tim Cook during which the Apple CEO proposed buying Tesla.

Musk said he'd do it, but on one condition: "I'm CEO." It reportedly took Cook a moment to realize Musk meant taking his job.

That's according to a Los Angeles Times review of "Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century," a forthcoming book by Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Higgins, who covers Apple, Tesla and other tech companies.

The review, published Friday, adds that Cook reportedly responded to Musk with an expletive and hung up the phone.

For their part, Musk and Cook have denied ever speaking to one another. In December, Musk revealed on Twitter that he had considered selling Tesla to Apple but said he never actually talked with Cook.

Replying to a report about Apple's plans to release a battery-powered, mass-market automobile, Musk said he reached out to Cook during the "darkest days of the Model 3 program" about acquiring Tesla "for 1/10 of our current value."

Musk also denied that the interaction described in the book happened in a tweet on Friday, following the publication of the book review. Higgins, the author, responded to Musk's Friday tweet saying the Tesla founder was given "plenty of opportunities" to comment on the anecdote.

"This anecdote comes from Musk's own account of the conversation, according to people who heard the retelling at the time," Higgins tweeted.

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