On Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that Apple has been in talks to either buy or invest in McLaren, the UK-based F1 team and supercar maker. The report, which cites three unnamed sources, says that the deal would be worth between $1 billion and $1.5 billion (£770 million to £1.16 billion).
Apple's possible interest in McLaren is not hard to fathom. Beyond the F1 team and those carbon-fiber sports cars, McLaren has a successful consulting business, a wealth of engineering expertise, and a hefty patent portfolio. What's more, Apple is sitting on quite a lot of cash (although much of it is tied up), and since McLaren is not based in the US, Apple would presumably not need to first repatriate—and therefore pay tax on—those funds.
But we're not sure there's any smoke to this fire. According to the FT, "Apple’s interest in the Woking-based company centres on its technology, engineering prowess and patent portfolio, according to people briefed on the talks. However, those people cautioned that it was unclear if a deal would go ahead following a recent shift in Apple’s car strategy."
As we discussed last week, Apple's automotive plans remain extremely secretive, although the company is believed to have reorganized the effort and fired many of the engineers previously working on "Project Titan."
Should the deal actually happen, it would provide a welcome infusion of cash for McLaren, particularly the Formula 1 team, which has had a rough few seasons of late and has yet to sign a title sponsor for 2016. With Formula 1 itself in the process of being bought by US-based Liberty Media, the deal would deliver a significant publicity boost to the sport. And Apple even has a history of being involved in racing: back in 1980, the company sponsored a Kremer 935 K3 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
And McLaren's base in Woking may be one of the few corporate campuses on the planet that outdoes Apple HQ for sheer spectacle. Architect Norman Foster's design brief was "80 percent NASA, 20 percent Disney," and having visited McLaren, we can report that the description does not sell the experience short.
McLaren was not immediately available for comment.
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