Apple CEO Tim Cook Rides in a Rivian Electric Van: Here's What We Know

The CEO of one of the world's largest companies was spotted riding an electric pickup truck in Idaho on Thursday. While this isn't usually big news, it comes as the company has already been linked with a potential acquisition or partnership with an electric vehicle company.

What happened: Apple Inc AAPL CEO Tim Cook was spotted taking a ride in a Rivian Automotive RIVN R1T electric pickup truck on Thursday, as the 'reported Bloomberg.

Cook reportedly borrowed the metallic green van while in Idaho for the Sun Valley conference. Cook took the Sun Valley Resort truck to a restaurant for dinner.

CEO and co-founder of Rivian R.J. Scaringe is present for the Sun Valley Conference. According to the report, Scaringe has brought with it the R1T and R1S, the electric vehicle maker's sport utility vehicle. Sources say Scaringe's vehicles drew throngs of attendees, including CEOs and founders of publicly traded companies.

Related Link: 5 Things You Might Not Know About Apple CEO Tim Cook

Why it matters: Apple has been working on its own electric vehicle initiative for years. Many analysts have indicated that Apple will eventually acquire an existing electric vehicle company or partner with a company to help boost the division instead of starting from scratch.

The borrowing of the vehicle could signal that Scaringe and Cook at least spoke at the event. While this may just be a gesture of goodwill, it could also lead to increased speculation between Apple and Rivian.

Rivian shares have fallen more than 68% since their IPO in November and the company now has a market capitalization of $28 billion.

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk is also expected to attend the Sun Valley Conference. Rivian is considered a great rival of Tesla.

Musk and Cook made headlines together when a book claimed Cook offered to buy Tesla. Musk reportedly said he would accept the deal if he could be Apple's CEO after the acquisition.

Musk has refuted the claim that he never spoke to Cook. Musk said he asked to meet with Cook about a potential acquisition of Tesla by the biggest tech giant, but Cook declined to meet with him.

Cook said in an interview that he never spoke to Musk and went so far as to praise what Musk did with Tesla.

"You know, I've never spoken to Elon, although I have great admiration and respect for the business he's built," Cook said. "I think Tesla has done an incredible job of not only establishing the lead, but keeping the lead for such a long time in the EV space."

Photo: Apple; car via Rivian

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