“Apple Inc. came under attack Thursday from an influential investor for its practice of stockpiling cash,” The Associated Press reports. “Its hoard totaled $137 billion at the end of last year, and it keeps growing.”
“The money belongs to shareholders, so Apple is limited in what it can legally do with it,” AP reports. “Leaving legality aside, here are some things Apple could do with $137 billion.”
• Give every American a check for $437
• Buy 100,000 luxury Manhattan apartments, enough to house the population of Omaha
• Acquire Facebook, Groupon, LinkedIn, Netflix, Pandora, BlackBerry, Yahoo, Yelp, Zillow and Zynga — and have more than $2 billion left to spare.
Full article, with six more things Apple could do with its cash hoard, here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple has enough cash on hand to buy HP ($32.51B), Dell ($23.44B), Toshiba ($18.60B), Sony ($14.99B), Lenovo ($11.70B), Asustech ($8.13B), and Acer ($2.19B) – in other words, basically the entire Windows PC industry – and still have enough left over ($25.44B) to pick up Nokia ($15.23B) and BlackBerry ($7.22B), leaving and extra $3 billion in the bank.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Carl H.” for the heads up.]
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Gamco’s Haverty: Apple’s cash is ‘shareholders’ cash’ (with video) – February 8, 2013
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Greenlight’s Einhorn sues Apple over plan to eliminate preferred stock, wants more cash distributed – February 7, 2013
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Greenlight’s Einhorn sues Apple, ‘dissatisfied with capital allocation strategy’ – February 7, 2013
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“Facebook, Groupon, LinkedIn, Netflix, Pandora, BlackBerry, Yahoo, Yelp, Zillow and Zynga.”
That’s a lawsuit I could support. Total waste of cash. Sony would be a good purchase – there’s content and good tech that could be worth purchasing. Nokia and Blackberry – only for the patents (and Nokia maps).
Are you kidding me? LinkedIn just jumped up $26 (21%) and is now an official powerhouse stock with a P/E of close to 1000. That shows LinkedIn has a future nearly 100X brighter than Apple’s. Shareholders are dancing in the streets. It makes Apple’s share gains look like chopped liver. The company may have no profits but who cares about profits. Wall Street doesn’t seem to care about those trivial aspects of financial success.
Manipulators are driving sone stocks up and others down. “Wall Street” indeed.
They could probably buy all the movie studios and networks too.
I said it a few days ago – saving up to buy Google
They don’t have to save anymore to buy Google. They’ve got plenty. Any such buyout would involve cash and debt, and Apple could easily borrow the balance of what they would need to buy Google.
Apple does not like debt. I don’t see them borrowing for any purchase.
Why would Apple do that and make all those Google assh*** rich!
Hate to tell you, but they’re already rich.
I was actually joking, as I doubt that the powers that be would allow such a purchase due to monopoly laws, but I’m certainly no expert.
Any experts present may now proceed to correct me. 😀
They could start by buying me (a pony).
Me too (a Harley, a Lamborghini, a yacht, a jet, a…)
Here you go🐎
No the the money does not belong to the shareholders. The only thing they own is the stock and they are free to sell it at any time of their choosing.
Before someone bashes me make sure you read this article.
http://www.directorship.com/stout-shareholders-as-owners/
But why waste their money on that crap?
That’s the whole point of these moronic articles. For Apple to waste/lose money. No fuss, no muss, no threat.
I wish they would!
How much would it take for Apple to build on Steve Jobs estate’s major holding in Disney (ABC, ESPN) to take majority control of Disney?
+1
Could the buy Wall Street? Oh I guess not, they don’t have any debt.
Don’t spend some of that cash just to be spending. Spend some of that cash wisely. But do spend some of it, that’s too much to have on hand. Clearly they can increase the dividend and buyback more stock. As for purchasing or investing some of that money in other companies I’m all for it. Apple knows what will fit in with their long-term plans.They certainly have enough cash to do pretty much what ever they want beyond reinvesting in manufacturing and being prepared for unforeseen emergencies. I don’t want to see them waste even one penny but at some point you are being derelict of your duties if you accumulate too much cash. They have too much cash.
This is a stupid article that fails to take into consideration that any offer would usually have to include a sizable premium over the current stock price.
Don’t be a fool Tim Cook. Buy Clearwire and build the entire ecosystem. Apple, a walled virtual world. Think different for God’s sake.
Not again with this Clearwire nonsense. They are crap. They are as bad to their customers as Apple is good.
Better to let Microsoft buy them. Except in the real world, Clearwire is owned by Sprint, Time-Wanker, Comcrap, and a bunch of other cable operators.
I’d rather Apple keep the majority of the cash and invest when it needs to. Perhaps, once a year, a percentage could go back to stockholders, including greedy, selfish loudmouths like Finkle, I mean Einhorn.
I think a sign of success and health is to have that much cash to do whatever you want. Apple invents incredible things and technologies at the right time and with its success, why would they need to change their formula?
So, Wall Street, analysts, and Finkles should just shut up and instead use their mouths to give praise that is due instead.
Things to ponder for the cash:
1. What would help improve tv.
2. What would help impending bandwidth crackdowns ( cellular & home ).
3. What would help Apple to not be at the mercy of others for components, etc..
4. Spend to ensure all niggling nits in OS X and iOS are fixed.
5. Charge hard on Maps.
6. Charge hard on search.
7. Charge hard on Pro users.