Apple, Tesla Fighting Over Top Employees

Apple and Tesla have been battling to recruit top talent from each other, according to a new report from Bloomberg Business. Tesla has hired at least 150 former Apple employees, more than they have from any other company.

tesla_model_s

The company has hired at least 150 former Apple employees, more than from any other company, even carmakers. The former Apple staffers work in many areas of the 6,000-employee automaker, including engineering and law. “From a design philosophy, [Apple] is relatively closely aligned,” says Musk, Tesla’s co-founder and chief executive officer. Apple declined to comment for this story.

Former Apple employees say their decision to join Tesla was based on the company's electric cars and CEO Elon Musk, who is a similar figure to Jobs. Like Jobs, Musk pays a great deal of attention to the details of his products and is a strong, visionary leader. Musk reportedly has a soft spot for Apple and enjoys comparisons to Steve Jobs as well, one former Tesla employee tells Bloomberg.

Apple's influence can be felt in the 17-inch touchscreen installed in Tesla's cars as well as its retail stores, both of which had former Apple employees in key roles. High profile former Apple employees at Tesla include Doug Field, Apple's former VP of Mac Hardware Engineering, who leads new vehicle development at the car company. Using top Silicon Valley talent, like former employees at Apple, allows Tesla to get a leg-up on competitors in the automobile industry.

While Tesla has had success recruiting talent from Apple, Musk says that Apple has hired "very few people" from the car company despite offering $250,000 signing bonuses and 60 percent salary increases to its employees.

Apple and Tesla have interacted in the past, with a report emerging in February 2014 that Apple had considered purchasing Tesla. Musk also revealed the two companies have had "conversations", though it isn't known whether those were about a potential acquisition, iOS integration in Tesla cars or battery technology.

The report also provides an interesting look into other ways Apple has influenced one of the most talked about companies in Silicon Valley and is worth reading at Bloomberg Business.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.1 Coming Soon, Likely With iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Fix

Thursday September 18, 2025 9:17 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The update will have a build number of 23A350, or similar, the account said. It is likely that iOS 26.0.1 will fix a camera-related bug on the new iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models. In his iPhone Air review, CNN Underscored's Henry T. ...

Top Rated Comments

KylePowers Avatar
139 months ago
Still waiting for Apple and Tesla to fight over me :(
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Roessnakhan Avatar
139 months ago
Tesla is a niche+vaporware quite unknown brand.
Um... what? How are they vaporware? Unknown?
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
139 months ago
Seriously? Do you think the world ends in Alaska or what? So you're saying me that if we select random people from all over the world, both sex and all the age ranges, Tesla will be a commonly recognized and positively considered brand? You have to be joking. Do your mothers even know what Tesla is or recognize its emblem?

Strongest car brands, by the way: Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz.

My parents know what Tesla is.

I have friends throughout europe and asia who know what Tesla is.

I think it's time you give up this "rant."
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vegasman Avatar
139 months ago
Have you heard about the model X or model 3? their delays? They have also delayed their profit guidance up to 2019. They sell some tenths of thousands of niche cars, have enormous debt and operating costs, and have a market cap like they were going to sell millions. Now they've said they're delaying their mainstream vehicles another year or pair of years. By then BMW and others will have their electric range

I'm sorry but Tesla is pure hype for geeks and snobs (in the US), vaporware+bubble stock (and brand).

The Model S is a good car by the way.

And of course they're unknown, do you think the people on forums and car-tech sites represent a big percentage over the whole population?


You sound like me when people were trying to explain why this bookstore called Amazon was so spectacular. I turned out to be wrong.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JesperA Avatar
139 months ago
Seriously? Do you think the world ends in Alaska or what? So you're saying me that if we select random people from all over the world, both sex and all the age ranges, Tesla will be a commonly recognized and positively considered brand? You have to be joking. Do your mothers even know what Tesla is or recognize its emblem?
Alaska, if you open your eyes you would have seen that i live in Sweden, and even all the way over here Tesla have alot of media exposure, everyone doesnt live under a rock like you. And since i already told you in my other post that everyone i know knows what a Tesla is that would have answered your last question but you still go on this incredible stupid rant of yours, refusing to listen even though several people now have told you how wrong you are.

I hope you are just trolling.

Again, you do realize that Tesla was founded 12 years ago, only sells in a handful of countries (mainly in 1 country), have no advertising, don't compete in any kind of motorsport, and has sold 50k cars, do you?
Ok, now it is obivous that you dont know what you are talking about. Tesla sells to quite a few countries actually, more than a handfull of european countries, even have superchargers placed all over western and nothern europe: http://www.teslamotors.com/en_EU/supercharger
Also it has quite alot of advertising and alot of media exposure.

You are wrong, i dont understand why you are so incredible stubborn when alot of people have told you how wrong you are. Why is it so important for you that you insist on that Tesla is a "nobody"
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nando87 Avatar
139 months ago
Both are a good and very strong brands.
No, Apple is a very good and very strong brand, maybe the best. Tesla is a niche+vaporware quite unknown brand.

Apple has infinitely more money, expertise and power. If Tesla thinks they are winning at something, is because Apple wants it that way, or simply doesn't care.

Let's be realistic.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)