Electric carmaker Tesla was struggling so much just two years ago that founder Elon Musk was on the verge of selling the company to Google, reports Bloomberg News.

In 2013, Telsa was having problems trying to get people who preordered the car to actually buy it. Musk began talks with Google to sell the company through Larry Page, Google's cofounder and CEO who is also friends with Musk, according to Bloomberg, which cited information from the soon-to-be published book "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future."

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Tesla spokesman Ricardo Reyes and Google spokeswoman Rachel Whetstone declined to comment.

In the first week of March 2013,

Musk  first contacted Page in March 2013, at which time Musk had closed down Tesla's factory because so many customers had deferred their orders. Musk reportedly proposed that Google buy Tesla for about $6 billion at the time, plus another $5 billion in capital for factory expansions.

The Tesla CEO also asked for guarantees that Google wouldn't break up or shut down the company before it produced a third-generation electric car aimed at the mainstream car market, according to Bloomberg. He insisted that he run a Google-owned Tesla for eight years, or until it began pumping out such a car. Page reportedly accepted the overall proposal and shook on the deal.

However, after a few weeks of negotiations, the two sides were at an impasses on a couple of issues concerning Musk's financial demands. At the same time, Tesla's sales started rolling in, and more people started buying the company's flagship Model S. The company began selling thousands of cars, enough to post an $11 million quarterly profit on $562 million in revenue, and by May of 2013 Tesla beat Wall Street expectations by reporting its first-ever quarterly profit.

Two weeks later, the company's stock double, and Tesla had repaid its $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy early, with interest. Musk reportedly then broke off his negotiations with Google. 

TagsElon Musk Had Deal to Sell Tesla to Google for $6 Billion, Larry Page, Tesla, Elon Musk