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Well, here's somewhat of a counterpoint:

Forgot to say one thing at Tesla annual shareholders meeting: just as my money was the first in, it will be the last out.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/statuses/342107352041922560

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So I believe he expressed his sentiments (that I brought up in the parent comment) in the Pando Daily fireside chat[1]. Its over an hour long so I am not going to re-watch it to confirm this. But keep in mind that when this interview was conducted TSLA was trading at $30 a share and was finally starting to look promising after a few years of near bankruptcy and failure, but wasn't quite the Wall Street darling that it is today. More recent comments indicate that he will be with the company for at least another 5 years[2]. The talks with apple appear to have happened somewhere in between these two interviews. It's entirely possible that Apple and Elon were simply discussing partnership opportunities. But it's not too far fetched to think that after 8 years of near failure, Musk was considering cashing out. Tesla's recent momentum might have given him a second wind, but in the end, SpaceX is his real baby.

As an aside, after hearing the Pando Daily interview, it never occurred to me that Elon would sell out his stake in Tesla. He feels more like the type to either sell the company entirely, or keep his stake but pass the reins off to someone else.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uegOUmgKB4E [2] http://www.treehugger.com/cars/elon-musk-how-long-hell-stay-...

That doesn't say anything about him running the company though

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