Apple's Cash Hoard Triggers Acqusition Rumors: Twitter, Electronic Arts

[MacRumors]

Apple now has nearly $29 billion in cash reserves which has generated ongoing speculation about what Apple could or should do with that money.

"I think the pressure is definitely mounting," said Scotia Capital analyst Gus Papageorgiou. "It's just too big a number ... the cash belongs to the shareholders, the shareholders don't need Apple to invest the cash, they need Apple to generate the cash."

Apple's official response to questions came from Apple's CFO Peter Oppenheimer in April when he said "We are investing it very conservatively, I'm comfortable with our investment portfolio and in these times having the cash feels very good to us."

The rumor mill it seems has other plans for Apple's cash reserves. Yesterday, two somewhat questionable acquisition targets emerged from various sources. We originally reported them on our Page 2 but summarize them here for interest:

Apple to Acquire Twitter for $700 million? - Twitter.com is a social messaging platform that allows users to broadcast short messages to "followers". It's seen a massive growth in usage recently due to a number of celebrity participants. Sources on this rumor seem inconsistent and the reason why Apple might even be interested in Twitter is unclear.

Apple to Takeover Electronic Arts - EA is long time gaming company. Again, Apple's interest in such a company seems questionable and the source is described as "sketchy, at best".



Article Link: Apple's Cash Hoard Triggers Acqusition Rumors: Twitter, Electronic Arts

[Doju]

I REALLY hope they go through with this!! This is incredible.

[Airforcekid]

Maybe apple makes/designs games for systems instead of having a system? If they buy twitter I might give it a shot!

[CharBroiled20s]

EA & Twitter?

Who in God's name thinks either of those are even remotely possible?

Get serious, what does Apple stand to gain from acquiring twitter? And since when is Apple a game developer? AND since when was EA up for sale anyow??!?!?!

PSSHAW I SAY! PSSHAW!!!

How retarded are these predictors exactly??

[GGGUUUYYY]

EA is good but twitter? twitter is just another fad.

[Roessnakhan]

Twitter? I don't think Apple would go for that. I can't see how it would be lucrative for them. However, if someone offers Twitter $700mil they should take it - the company has lasted a long time without a business model and they should sell before that bites them in the ass.

[jayducharme]

Oppenheimer is wise. It's prudent to save money "for a rainy day," especially in these uncertain times. For a corporation the size of Apple, $29 billion really isn't all that much. And you can't say they aren't investing in R&D. That's what keeps them ahead of the curve (not the Blackberry).

[ivladster]

Originally Posted by Roessnakhan

Twitter? I don't think Apple would go for that. I can't see how it would be lucrative for them. However, if someone offers Twitter $700mil they should take it - the company has lasted a long time without a business model and they should sell before that bites them in the ass.

That's what was done to YouTube. No one wanted it to be huge. But when Google bought it. Rest is history.

[naman34]

this is just stupid!... Twitter.. maybe they're capable of acquiring the company, but why would they....
and EA... apple really doesnt have enough money to acquire EA... its a lot of money but not enough.

[Mactagonist]

Both of these acquisitions would be absolutely stupid moves. These rumors are blatant stock manipulation by some 'pump and dump' schemer somewhere.

[Evangelion]

If Apple bought Adobe with 20% premium, they would still have about 14 billion dollars left over... Just saying.

[Roessnakhan]

Originally Posted by ivladster

That's what was done to YouTube. No one wanted it to be huge. But when Google bought it. Rest is history.

No one wanted YouTube to be huge? YouTube was huge when acquired by Google, and YouTube already had some way of gaining revenue through ads. I think the only people that didn't want it to be huge were the media outlets. Twitter doesn't have ads, or registration that requires paying. I can't see how they're making money.

[blurredline]

I'm so lost by this. Titter I can POSSIBLY see happening, but a very slight possibility. EA, I can't even imagine that happening at all.

If this Twitter acquisition did pan out I can imagine Apple being able to do some pretty cool stuff with the popularity of the short messaging service. We will see I guess.

[CharBroiled20s]

Originally Posted by ivladster

That's what was done to YouTube. No one wanted it to be huge. But when Google bought it. Rest is history.

guy, youtube and twitter are nothing alike. Youtube offered a unique service that hadn't been commercialized for the masses before... and it was already HUGE before google bought it.

Twitter though? its a poor man's instant messenger - It'll be dead & gone inside of 3 years... Furthermore, anyone willing to pay 700 million for twitter needs their head examined.

could build their own twitter for less than the cost of a 3 series bmw - get serious.

[Evangelion]

Originally Posted by BryanHarig

Both of these acquisitions would be absolutely stupid moves. These rumors are blatant stock manipulation by some 'pump and dump' schemer somewhere.

Isn't twitter a privately held company? So this can't be a pump 'n dumb-scheme

[The General]

@ev TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

Originally Posted by CharBroiled20s

guy, youtube and twitter are nothing alike. Youtube offered a unique service that hadn't been commercialized for the masses before...

Twitter though? its a poor man's instant messenger - It'll be dead & gone inside of 3 years... Furthermore, anyone willing to pay 700 million for twitter needs their head examined.

could build their own twitter for less than the cost of a 3 series bmw - get serious.

They could build their own, but it won't already have 25,000,000+ users or exposure on Oprah. Look at Myspace and how HORRIBLE of a website it is - still going strong. Why? Who knows ... but I'll tell you something. I have made 4644 tweets since the iPhone 3G came out. I don't see it becoming less enjoyable ever.

I doubt it will be gone in 3 years.

[gkarris]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

Apple now has nearly $29 billion in cash reserves which has generated ongoing speculation about what Apple could or should do with that money.

How about lowering prices for a few years?

Base Mac Mini = $499

White MacBook = $699

Base Aluminum MacBook = $899

Base iMac = $799

AppleTV = $169

and so on....

/rant

[talkingfuture]

I said it before and I'll say it again:

Unlikely but you never know!

[blurredline]

Originally Posted by Evangelion

Isn't twitter a privately held company? So this can't be a pump 'n dumb-scheme

I think he was talking about Apple not Twitter in terms of stock manipulation as shareholders are waiting to see where Apple invests their billions of dollars in the bank.

[sconnor99]

Adobe would be the sensible purchase, then dump Photoshop for PC to increase your Mac sales

[slffl]

Twitter would be a huge mistake. Talk about an overhyped social networking site. Take the 'What's on your mind' of facebook, get rid of everything else, you now have Twitter.

[gstylez]

Not sure about EA but what's with all this twitter business...
http://www.apple.com/business/profiles/twitter/

http://twitter.com/gstylez

[o0samotech0o]

Quite happy for any of this to happen, as Apple to a great job at this. Although i'd like some of this to be spent on innovative UI for OS X, and hardware..

But whatever they do with it, i'm sure Apple will use it wisely.
-Sam

[nick9191]

Originally Posted by Evangelion

If Apple bought Adobe with 20% premium, they would still have about 14 billion dollars left over... Just saying.

Now Adobe would be a good buy.

Although I can't help feeling that:
Photoshop for Mac: $250
Photoshop for Windows: $2500

Ala Shake.

[Doctor Q]

My suggestion for Apple: Shovel the cash into R&D. Produce great new products and maintain a dizzying pace of innovation. If you have to purchase companies, buy them for technology you can integrate.

One thing you won't hear from Apple: "We have too much cash. Let's get into price wars and make less profit."