IBM Buyout?

[arn]

JAGfn Rumors:

Apple Computer (AAPL) $24.85 - Rumor that (IBM) will make a $45 a share bid for company. Neither company was available for comment.

 

[Ensign Paris]

I bloodly hope not!

 

[3G4N]

whoa... (if even in the neighborhood of truth)

 

[iAryeh]

no way

there have been rumors about apple buying one company or another company buying apple for years. this just doesn't sound right. plus, apple would sell at a lot higher price. i think it is purely a rumor.

 

[Backtothemac]

There are two chances of this, slim and none, and slim just died. There is no way that IBM would do this, that being a straight buyout of Apple. Apple and IBM working together on Power4 servers yea, that could happen. Why would IBM scrap PC's altogether (except crap we see on TV) and then dive back into the mix through Apple.

Hey, I have some swampland in Southern Iraq if anyone believes this rumor.

 

[Unregistered]

Big Brother

If this is true, then Big Brother has won.

 

[cplmd]

hmmm....

i'd have an easier time believing that Apple is gonna announce a new hand held

 

[krossfyter]

this rumor is pure ****

 

[keithcobbett]

Re: hmmm....

Originally posted by cplmd
i'd have an easier time believing that Apple is gonna announce a new hand held

They are!!! What planet have you been on. It's called the iWalk. Boy. What is this world coming too???

he he he - just kidding.

If this is true, their could be an argument to make this positive. Here's a shot at that.

IBM created the Gates monster we have grown to hate. IBM was the first company to license DOS. Not because it was better, but because he would sell it to them without it having to be loaded on the peecee's (long story). But, if IBM is currently making G4 chips and they have always been ahead of their time, like Apple, well, maybe they will bring things in house, like they did to Lotus Notes, and make it a more wide spread product with better marketing, cheaper prices and yes I have had too much to smoke. Just don't beat up on me too much here. OK???

 

[Unregistered]

This would be great...as an AAPL shareholder who bought in @ $16, I would gladly tender my shares for $45 (and then quickly proceed to the nearest Apple seller and by a DualGhz with Cinema Display)

 

[Unregistered]

Pump n' Dump

This is a pump and dump scam. IBM ain't buying APPL folks.

 

[Taft]

Last one.

Originally posted by Unregistered
This would be great...as an AAPL shareholder who bought in @ $16, I would gladly tender my shares for $45 (and then quickly proceed to the nearest Apple seller and by a DualGhz with Cinema Display)

And that, my friend could very well be the last Mac you would ever buy. I don't even want to think of what would happen to Apple if IBM bought them out. My guess is that our *ahem* savior Steve Jobs would probably be out and an Apple without Jobs is, well, an Apple with Gil. And we don't want that to happen.

Matthew

 

[dricci]

It's true.

Yup. This is true. Infact, it's a true as Microsoft making a secure operating system.

 

[Unregistered]

Maybe Apple stock will hit $40-NT

(NO TEXT)

 

[Timo_Existencia]

IBM Creative?

Is it just me, or is IBM the least creative, in terms of Industrial Design and UI, company on earth? It would be a disaster for Apple to fall under the auspices of this behemoth with no style.

 

[chicagdan]

Don't be so quick to dismiss this rumor guys. As a former IBMer, let me share a view pieces of recent Big Blue lore:

1) IBM came THIS|CLOSE to buying Dell in the summer of 1999. It would have happened if IBM's stock hadn't hit a plateau while Dell's continued to soar. By October 1999, the Dell strike price that was on the table in May had already been exceeded by 15 percent. IBM briefly considered buying Gateway or Micron PC, but decided they were heavily overvalued.

2) Apple fits the IBM strategy better than Dell. Apple has done something almost no other PC manufacturer has been able to accomplish -- maintain its margins. That's music to IBM's ears.
3) IBM loves UNIX. Within three years, every IBM OS will be UNIX based. They are making massive LINUX investments. OS X is a very nice fit for them.

The final, important part of the puzzle is Apple's share price ... the company is seriously undervalued. It has a ton of cash, loyal customers, great margins ... there's nothing for IBM NOT to love. Plus it's the only serious MS competitor.

The big negative, of course, is culture. These two cultures cannot be reconciled. Apple will need to be left alone ... and IBM is terrible at that. They always talk a good game about leaving Lotus or Tivoli to do their own thing, but when push comes to shove, they're right back to their old monolithic.

In conclusion, this would be a great move for IBM ... but I hope it doesn't happen.

 

[GPTurismo]

I am scured

 

[Unregistered]

What can I do to make sure this does NOT happen?

What can I do to make sure this never, ever happens?

 

[krossfyter]

REPEAT------ THIS RUMOR IS PURE ****

 

[Unregistered]

buy

apple should buy ibm!

it will give apple more resources in turms of hardware and software engineers
and become a BIG fret to microsoft
and give ibm some stile......

 

[Unregistered]

buy

apple should buy ibm!

it will give apple more resources in turms of hardware and software engineers
and become a BIG fret to microsoft
and give ibm some style......

 

[edenwaith]

Originally posted by Backtothemac

Hey, I have some swampland in Southern Iraq if anyone believes this rumor.

Hey, and I have some costal beachfront property in Switzerland! Want to swap?

I do think this is just a rumor at this point. If I see the same story on the front cover of BusinessWeek, then I'll think differently. In the early 90's when Apple was in trouble, they were looking for a few different buyers, but no one took the bait. Now that Apple has been consistently profitable for the past few years (except for one quarter), I don't see why Apple would even want to be bought out.

But take Compaq which lost millions of dollars during their third quarter. While Apple hasn't been making millions of dollars in profit, they are STILL profitable with a couple billion dollars in the bank for padding.

 

[chicagdan]

Apple should buy IBM? Sure, and I should buy a Lamborghini. IBM's market cap is, oh, 25 times the size of Apple. AOL could buy Time Warner because of a wildly inflated stock price, Apple is not in the same boat.

It's an odd coincidence that this rumor breaks on a day when IBM stock is getting pounded for accounting irregularities.

 

[arn]

Of note, IBM has been doing poor in the PC area... except in Laptops, I think....

although I do find Apple a strange way for IBM to go...

now - *IF* ibm does buy Apple... I think that means Mac OS X intel could more easily happen.

arn

 

[kainjow]

ViaVoice built-in?

Just think...If IBM bought Apple, then Apple could include ViaVoice into Mac OS X directly, so it would be the first ever OS to have built-in speech dictation. Then, Apple (as being the most perfect company ) could perfect it, and be even more revolutionary. ViaVoice is an awesome idea, but it needs a lot of work to be more useful.

Then they could make it available for other languages, and then Apple would be the #1 computer company in the world!!!

Muwahahaha