Some of that $29 billion should be invested in better quality control at the Chinese factories that make Apple products.
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Apple's Cash Hoard Triggers Acqusition Rumors: Twitter, Electronic Arts
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Electronic Arts has a market cap of $7B. So, yeah, Apple could buy it for cash at a 100% premium and have plenty of money left over to stop and get ice cream on the way home.
I would love to see Apple buy the New York Times Co. (the Times and lots of regional papers) or Gannett (USA Today and lots of regional papers) and reinvent the news business for a new 7-inch Kindle-killer tablet like it reinvented the music business for the iPod and is trying to reinvent the TV/movie business for the iPhone/touch.
Gannett trades at $1B and NYT trades at $750M. Apple's touch would be an immediate boost for either brand and would bring the innovation and IT expertise that the news business desperately needs to survive.
I recognize Apple didn't buy a record label or a movie distributor to kick start those projects, but in retrospect it may have been a good idea. Apple could cut through a lot of the licensing difficulties it's having with the studios by buying one and scaring the hell out of the rest of them. Plus, what's more synergistic -- General Electric and NBC Universal or Apple and NBC Universal?
A different take - the investment in QC should be the manufacturers responsibility and Apple should insist on "x-level" of quality from them or they take their production volume elsewhere.
There are several good reasons why Apple has so much cash on their balance sheet - one of which is NOT buying companies that they don't need.
As a moderate stock holder - I would like to see a good portion of that cash returned to the very investors who helped propel Apple to the lofty heights that it has achieved.
Stockholders are starting to rumble for dividends or DRIPS.
EA - no way...
Twitter would just be a cash fritter..
fritter 1 |ˈfritər|
verb [ trans. ]
1 ( fritter something away) waste time, money, or energy on trifling matters : I wish we hadn't frittered the money away so easily.
• [ intrans. ] dwindle; diminish : the day fritters.
As a moderate stock holder - I would like to see a good portion of that cash returned to the very investors who helped propel Apple to the lofty heights that it has achieved.
Stockholders are starting to rumble for dividends or DRIPS.
EA - no way...
Twitter would just be a cash fritter..
fritter 1 |ˈfritər|
verb [ trans. ]
1 ( fritter something away) waste time, money, or energy on trifling matters : I wish we hadn't frittered the money away so easily.
• [ intrans. ] dwindle; diminish : the day fritters.
Oh ... I forgot about those guys. Hmm ... you could be right. There are some arrogant folks in those communities for sure ... though I was primarily referring to that special sect of Apple users who think gaming and developing for gaming on the "precious" wastes valuable resources, distracts engineers, and overall demeans the brand. I say hogwash to the entire lot of you.
Apple computers are not only sexy, sleek, & powerful for those encode and Final Cut sessions, but they should also have the graphics and power to NATIVELY run all the popular titles available to the PC.
My comments:
- Buy twitter: Maybe for some fancy iPhone app. Don't care.
- Buy EA: I'ts an idea which pleases in first thought. But on second... Apple is good in design and usability... but entering the gaming market? I know this has been discussed before since the rumor/advert of the Touch being the ultimate gaming device, but what road would they propose to walk on? Distribute EA-Games over iTunes? Create an iBox?
- Move to Germany/Europe, start investing in R&D: Well, this is what we all hope for since years. But as it did not happen in the past, I can't imagine why they would do this move now. Ask again in some years.
- Buy Adobe: At the moment: No way. They will buy them when the end is near.
My guess: They will purchase Amiga!
- Buy twitter: Maybe for some fancy iPhone app. Don't care.
- Buy EA: I'ts an idea which pleases in first thought. But on second... Apple is good in design and usability... but entering the gaming market? I know this has been discussed before since the rumor/advert of the Touch being the ultimate gaming device, but what road would they propose to walk on? Distribute EA-Games over iTunes? Create an iBox?
- Move to Germany/Europe, start investing in R&D: Well, this is what we all hope for since years. But as it did not happen in the past, I can't imagine why they would do this move now. Ask again in some years.
- Buy Adobe: At the moment: No way. They will buy them when the end is near.
My guess: They will purchase Amiga!
Something else about Twitter - a just released analysis indicates that the vast majority of new Twitter participants QUIT after minimal activity - they simply do not stick. Other pundits are indicating a growing backlash about Twitter being a waste of time (So you are at the grocery store - what are you doing Duh??? - Oh - I am wasting my time twittering nonsense with you...)
My belief is that this social networking fad is the next tech bubble to burst.
My belief is that this social networking fad is the next tech bubble to burst.
They're not. That's often why you buy a company; because they fit a hole in your product line-up.
60% quit after the first month, is what I read. I'm not surprised.
Twitter != Social Networking. I think Social Networking is here to stay, and it will keep evolving as all the hype dies down. Twitter on the other hand is not going to survive, at least not as a stand-alone entity. It will likely be absorbed by a larger Social Networking or Messaging provider.
ERTS has a market caps of 6.88bn dollars. So Apple would have the money to buy EA four times over. Not that doing it would be a good idea (in my opinion).
synergy
reason to buy EA? integrate apples massively successful app store (already pc/mac cross platform) and include EAs games. Would sell more games as the immediate impulse buying happens, as well as greatly improving gross profits by eliminating various physical production & distribution costs, as well as by-passing the middlemen distributors and retailers.
EA games could be released at half the price and make twice the profit they do now.
as for twitter - who cares about $700 million when you got close to $30 billion?
one negative: all these record profits apple has had over the last year or so - im guessing this is partly due to the huge amount of interest they are receiving on the cash reserves? it must have been a few hundred million in the last quarter alone!
reason to buy EA? integrate apples massively successful app store (already pc/mac cross platform) and include EAs games. Would sell more games as the immediate impulse buying happens, as well as greatly improving gross profits by eliminating various physical production & distribution costs, as well as by-passing the middlemen distributors and retailers.
EA games could be released at half the price and make twice the profit they do now.
as for twitter - who cares about $700 million when you got close to $30 billion?
one negative: all these record profits apple has had over the last year or so - im guessing this is partly due to the huge amount of interest they are receiving on the cash reserves? it must have been a few hundred million in the last quarter alone!
They could rescue Ireland from itself?
Exchequer deficit hits 7.3bn I know I'd be grateful
They could improve health, transport... imagine, a country run by a computer company!
I'd move there.
Twitter is indeed social networking. If not, what is it then? So is Facebook, so is MySpace. All social networking.
Prepare for an epic Microsoft takeover!!!!!!
Seriously though, it'd be great if they took over EA. Maybe finally we'd get some good games.
Seriously though, it'd be great if they took over EA. Maybe finally we'd get some good games.
The economy will be feeling the effects of the recession for years to come - and many companies will either go belly up or come out with a vastly different financial outlook.
Rather than buying other big honkin' companies with little or no immediate benefit to Apple, they would better served by putting the money into R&D (as mentioned on page 1) and making small, key acquisitions.
With almost $30b on hand, Apple stands to excel and continue to innovate while other technology corporations are forced to cut back. By doing so they'll come out of the recession being light years ahead of their primary competition and way ahead in product design.
We've already seen Apple design beating the recession while other tech companies are suffering. If they play the cards right Apple will be a much more powerful and formidable company in a few years. And Apple's not stupid. The time to buy their stock is now.
Rather than buying other big honkin' companies with little or no immediate benefit to Apple, they would better served by putting the money into R&D (as mentioned on page 1) and making small, key acquisitions.
With almost $30b on hand, Apple stands to excel and continue to innovate while other technology corporations are forced to cut back. By doing so they'll come out of the recession being light years ahead of their primary competition and way ahead in product design.
We've already seen Apple design beating the recession while other tech companies are suffering. If they play the cards right Apple will be a much more powerful and formidable company in a few years. And Apple's not stupid. The time to buy their stock is now.
Twitter is social networking, but on a much lesser scale than MySpace and Facebook (WHY Facebook is trying to compete with Twitter I don't quite get). Twitter stands to survive, and indeed excel - but they've got to keep innovating and adding good features if they want to stick around. There are several suggestions already that are clamored for and Twitter hasn't implemented, yet at least. If they just stagnate, like Bose or Polaroid, they'll die.
I think they should buy Ikea...
There are so many opportunities to take advantage of with a reserve of that size. One kind of opportunity that's consistently been missed by apple (has the iPhone broken that spell?) is to finally transmogrify from being a consumer electronics manufacturer to also becoming a leading manufacturer of convergent professional devices.
EXAMPLES
- The healthcare/self diagnostics market space is begging for Apple branded products. This would be a killer category.
- Education has been nearly forgotten. Apple should lead a resurgence in interest in education
- Professional computers and cameras.There's absolutely no reason why RED isn't an Apple acquisition target. Why no professional Apple branded monitors that are viable Color grading alternatives to other brands. Apple. Why no real broadcast caliber monitors????
- Apple Usability & Human Factors excellence are known, and yet the Apple philosophy is sorely lacking in everything from Automotive design to consumer electronics design. Why is there no Apple Design Center???
EXAMPLES
- The healthcare/self diagnostics market space is begging for Apple branded products. This would be a killer category.
- Education has been nearly forgotten. Apple should lead a resurgence in interest in education
- Professional computers and cameras.There's absolutely no reason why RED isn't an Apple acquisition target. Why no professional Apple branded monitors that are viable Color grading alternatives to other brands. Apple. Why no real broadcast caliber monitors????
- Apple Usability & Human Factors excellence are known, and yet the Apple philosophy is sorely lacking in everything from Automotive design to consumer electronics design. Why is there no Apple Design Center???
I'd love to see more gaming on the Mac.
Only thing I've seen are gamers who think they are too special to use Macs.
But if we could actually get some decent titles that aren't just ported over using Cider, that'd be great. I'm not much of a gamer myself, but it's something I hope Apple is considering.
If apple did purchase ES they might want to learn how to write video drivers.
The may also want to offer their customers a few more choices when it comes to vid cards and processor configs.
this could explain the plucking of Xbox marketing and AMD video executives. Could this also mean Apple will move to the less expensive AMD chips to maintain their profit margin goals?
The may also want to offer their customers a few more choices when it comes to vid cards and processor configs.
this could explain the plucking of Xbox marketing and AMD video executives. Could this also mean Apple will move to the less expensive AMD chips to maintain their profit margin goals?
Why does Apple need to get into any of those markets? Apple also tends to stay away from 'deep and narrow' markets (like high end cameras, medical equipment and broadcast monitors). I don't think they want to dump so much money into such a small user base.
Lethal
So then their cash reserve would go DOWN and they'd have nothing to show for it. Millions of stock holders would lose money. The economy gets even worse. Man, you're a genius!
Nope, they should invest it in saving the car companies. What? It's not a good investment? Aha. Then maybe our goverment should do it so we can ALL lose. Even more genius!
There's a reason gov't shouldn't own private industry. Because the masses will vote the country into the poor house.
A poor man never gave me a job.
Now THAT is an /rant