Rumors Are Swirling That Elon Musk Is Buying Google — Details
Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022. Will he consider adding another company to his shopping cart in 2023? Is he buying Google? Here's what we know.
Jan. 9 2023, Published 1:04 p.m. ET
The new year is a time to set goals for everyone, including billionaires like Elon Musk. Musk’s purchase of Twitter in 2022 has many people speculating about what company he may consider adding to his shopping cart in 2023.
One rumor circulating on social media is that Musk is setting his sights on purchasing Google. Are the rumors true? Here's what we know.
Is Elon Musk buying Google?
No, Musk isn’t buying Google. The claims are simply rumors that started from a couple of YouTube videos titled “Elon Musk: ‘I OFFICIALLY Bought Google!’” The first video was posted on Dec. 19, 2022, by the Elon Musk Now YouTube channel. It received 153,277 views.
A second video, posted on Jan. 8 on the Elon Musk Zone YouTube page, garnered over 444,000 views. The video notes that Elon Musk Zone admits that the channel “is not associated with Elon Musk in ANY way and is purely made for entertainment purposes, based on facts, rumors, and fiction.”
However, some people didn’t realize the videos were "fake news" and helped spread the rumor on Twitter.
“Elon Musk just bought GOOGLE are you kidding me??? Wowwowowo!!” tweeted @corynkim.
“I just hear @elonmusk bought #Google, is this true…??” @chris_arancibia tweeted.
Others pointed out that the Musk-focused YouTube channels aren’t the best place to get factual news on the Tesla billionaire.
“The same channel said he bought FaceBook. The same channel claimed he hired MrBeast as CEO. I once thought it was a legit channel for Musk news. Now, not so much,” twitter @OculusDiscrim.
What companies does Elon Musk own?
Musk owns several companies, but Google isn’t one of them. Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022. The other companies Musk owns are:
Tesla, an electric car manufacturer,
Starlink, a satellite internet service,
SpaceX, a space exploration company,
Neuralink, a neurotechnology company developing implantable brain-computer interfaces,
The Boring Company, a construction company that builds transportation tunnels.
Musk has been a serial entrepreneur since he was just 12 years old. He and his brother, Kimbal, co-founded an online financial company that eventually became PayPal. Much of Musk’s wealth came from selling PayPal to eBay in 2002 for $1.3 billion in stock. He used the money he got from the sale to start his future businesses.
Musk almost sold Tesla to Google in 2013.
Although there isn't any truth behind the rumor that Musk is buying Google, the two have had business dealings in the past. In fact, Musk almost sold Tesla to Google back in 2013 when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported in 2015. Details of the potential sale were revealed in the book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance.
Musk and Google co-founder Larry Page even shook hands on a deal for Google to buy Tesla for $6 billion plus $5 billion in capital for factory expansions and have Musk continue to run the company for eight years after the acquisition, Insider reports. But the deal fell apart after Tesla started selling cars and making a profit, Insider reports.