“The cash coffers are overflowing at Apple these days. While Silicon Valley is abuzz over the fact that social-networking startup Facebook is now worth $15 billion on paper, Cupertino-based Apple has at least that much money — $15.4 billion to be exact — in real, spendable cash,” Bryan Gardiner reports for Wired.
Gardiner asks, “With more money on hand than it’s ever had, the question is: What exactly will Apple do with that pile?”
“Apple could use its wad of cash to ensure that iPhone-component makers are keeping up with demand. This is seen as critical for Apple at the moment, especially considering that it’s set to launch the phone in Europe next month. Another potential investment could come in the form of building out the new property Apple purchased last year in Cupertino. Indeed, Jobs has said that the 50-acre parcel of land is to be the home of a new campus housing up to 3,500 of Apple’s employees,” Gardiner reports.
“Less likely is the possibility that Apple might join a Google-led consortium of companies bidding in the upcoming 700-MHz spectrum auction. With the bar set at $4.6 billion just to qualify for the open access ‘C’ block, analysts predict Google will likely want some monetary support from companies that could benefit from a new swath of open spectrum. That includes hardware manufacturers like Apple, whose iPhone and iPod touch might, in future versions, work with an open wireless network,” Gardiner reports.
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Paul” for the heads up.]
Stock in MSFT? No, wait…
Peace Dividends!
Buy Europe!
mw : “europe”
So, with 15 billion, what would the monthly interest on that be???
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Say about $300 million??
en
How about buying all current G5 or G4 owners that are not powermac’s new computers to replace their old ones?
Carbon Offsets?
“”Less likely is the possibility that Apple might join a Google-led consortium of companies bidding in the upcoming 700-MHz spectrum auct”
————————
Why is this considered a “less likely” possibility?
Please buy Adobe.
Sun or Sony?
They should spend just a tiny bit and buy Wacom or Logitech. One thing Apple has never done right *ever* is peripherals like mice. Besides, they are getting into tablets anyway.
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ADBE market cap = $27 Billion
The only thing missing in the current product line is a game console to fully capture the consumer all-in-one media experience. Apple with Apple TV and content provider Disney/pixar could form a mighty joint venture. Not sure what they are waiting for …
Pah. That’s only seven and a half weeks worth of war spending.
W the Chimp change.
Yeah what Tre said.
Imagine Apple having access to this spectrum, delivering iTunes content and Apple TV content, not to mention IP Phone capability.
Could pretty much bitch slap 3 separate industries at once.
US GAO
How long is that in Socialized Medicine days?
Pay the shareholders a dividend and don’t make the company’s owners (shareholders) wait for the Ponzi scheme idea of waiting for a new sucker to buy-in in order to see a return on their investment,
How about a dividend for the stockholders?
Buy Adobe. Or merge with Nintendo and buy NVIDIA. Steve should start taking gaming seriously, it’s one of the few (j)obstacles that keep the Mac from taking over the world.
Or maybe they should start their own music label to eliminate some middlebronfmen…
Sorry, Tommy Boy. Didn’t see your post.
TowerTone: $ 15 billion spent to socialized medicine is better than spending $ 15 billion to a phony war.
@TowerTone
Doesn’t matter, Hillary and Charlie Rangal just have increase capital gains taxes on the “rich”.
By rich, that would be defined as anyone who has owned APPL over the past few years.
By the way, haven’t you heard, Michale Moore says that socialized medicine is FREE.
This is an excellent article. My favorite use for the money are to assure parts availability from vendors, giving Apple the best prices and placing them first in the buyers’ line.
Buying spectrum is not, a first glance, a bad idea. I don’t know enough about that issue to know if actually buying the bandwidth is the best way to get access to its use, but it is a good thing to consider.
Buying or investing in small great technology companies is another winner. It could give Apple access to radical new product lines without having to absorb so many new employees in a single gulp and screw up the Apple culture.
And some stock buybacks could be very lucrative in an environment where the media whores and anal-ists fail to price AAPL properly for impending growth.
I’m glad to see that some pundits, a few of them, do get it.
Give me and 153,999 of my friends $100K each?
They’re saving … saving … saving up to buy Microsoft eventually and shut it down! The ultimate insult!
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Chimpy
No problem. All you need to do is get the Constitution, cross out that crap about national defense or whatever, and add “Wipe Everybody’s Ass”.
There, now we can all feel better about ourselves….
ONE BIG KEGGER !!!!!