In 2013, Tesla Motors was on the brink of bankruptcy. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, negotiated a deal with Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, to sell Tesla for $6 billion. The deal also included an additional $5 billion for factory expansion. Musk demanded that Google would not break up or shut down Tesla until it had produced a third-generation electric car affordable to the average consumer.
The agreement was not formalised as Tesla’s sales rebounded dramatically. Tesla’s Model S sedan became popular, and the company paid off a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy nine years early. Tesla’s stock price soared, and Google’s interest waned. Musk never sold Tesla, and it is now worth around $700 billion.
Musk’s determination to make electric cars mainstream and his willingness to risk his company to achieve this goal were highlighted during the negotiations. Despite the near-failure, Musk’s vision for Tesla remained unchanged. He believed that Tesla’s success would spur other car companies to produce electric vehicles, contributing to a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
Go to source article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-20/elon-musk-had-a-deal-to-sell-tesla-to-google-in-2013