• 2 min read
Elon Musk quietly bought APR Energy in May
FTC documents show Elon Musk, personally, acquired APR Energy, a mobile gas-turbine power company Electrek estimates at $1 billion.
Image: Gizmodo
Elon Musk personally acquired APR Energy back in May, according to FTC documents highlighted by Electrek. The filing lists the acquiring party as Elon Musk the individual, not SpaceX or another company.
That matters because APR Energy is a fossil fuel energy company that provides mobile gas-powered turbines for electricity generation. There was no public announcement around the deal: no press release, and, as the source notes, a search of APR Energy’s website for “Musk” returns no results.
The acquisition also sits awkwardly next to Musk’s earlier public comments on fossil fuels. In a 2014 interview, he argued that capitalism’s failure to price carbon emissions made carbon-intensive industries artificially lucrative.
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“…because there’s no price on carbon emissions it makes things that are carbon-producing very rewarding, because the true price is not being paid. So if you’re a petrochemical engineer you can earn a tremendous amount of money, but you shouldn’t really be earning that huge amount of money.”
APR Energy is not a small operation. Electrek estimates its size at $1 billion, and the biography for the company’s CEO says APR Energy has 800 employees. The company also operates a YouTube channel.
The report follows earlier attention on permits for dozens of gas turbines to run the data centers behind projects including Grok.
Enterprise Editor
Marcus follows the money. He covers enterprise software, cloud architecture, and the tectonic shifts in Big Tech strategy. He translates dense earnings calls and complex M&A activity into actionable insights about where the industry is actually heading. If a tech giant makes a silent pivot, Marcus is usually the first to notice.
via Gizmodo
