“The biggest cash pile in the technology industry historically has belonged to Microsoft Corp., but now it has some company, and it’s a familiar name: Apple Inc.,” Todd Bishop reports for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
“Microsoft has reduced its cash balance to $26.3 billion through large stock buybacks, dividends and acquisitions. The balance was more than $64 billion less than four years ago,” Bishop reports. “Apple’s balance has been growing – reaching $19.4 billion at last count – as a result of the cash generated by its Mac and iPod lines. Less than four years ago, its stockpile was $5.5 billion.”
“The trends have implications for both companies. Cash translates into the ability to consider acquisitions and other potentially business-boosting deals. Apple has cited those types of possibilities when Wall Street analysts have asked about plans for its cash. Microsoft had been planning to borrow money for the first time, before it withdrew its $44.6 billion Yahoo bid Saturday,” Bishop reports.
“‘Stock buyback programs and other forms of returning the cash are discussed with the board from time to time,’ said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer, in a Jan. 22 earnings conference call. But Apple’s current preference is to ‘maintain a strong balance sheet in order to preserve our flexibility to make strategic investments and/or acquisitions,’ he added,” Bishop reports.
More in the full article here.
Apple had a near death experience and had to rely on others to get it through the tough times. Never again. Keep stockpiling the cash for the rainy days.
And darn right that strategy is as well.
You look at Apple’s performance as a company, both technically and commercially, when it used to pay dividends back in the 90s.
If you want a stock that pays an income, go somewhere else. Apple is about capital growth. End of story.
Kevin: Apple had a near death experience and had to rely on others to get it through the tough times.
Even when Apple was in the doldrums during Steve’s exile it wasn’t actually starved for cash.
You’re probably referring to the (transient) Microsoft buy of some small amount of Apple stock back then, but that had more to do with strategic issues than with cash. And it’s long gone and part of history by now.
Uh oh. Don’t let Hillary know they made a profit…
And it will help take the OS to 11!
Apple knows what it is going to do with its cash, and is lying in wait for the opportune moment. I still believe it wants to be a network provider of some sort. IPTV for Apple TV, ubiquitous wifi for its mobile devices via subscriber sharing. It would be typical Apple MO with regard to its parterships; learn from them until their is no need for them.
“Uh oh. Don’t let Hillary know they made a profit…”
Or Obama. If the dems win watch out for your own money. If you can find it after a couple of years into their reign. The ‘Fairness Doctrine’ will shut down free speech also. The McCaine mutiny won’t be much better. Let freedom ring….Hahahahaha.
Stock buybacks are always the moves of a desperate company.
imagine if apple bought an island in the pacific and called it
“iLand”
and then have a utopia
Yes it’s crazy talk when talking billions of dollars of possibilities
Apple might want to consider investing in a little something called ‘research and development’ to catch up to the revolutionary technology in Microsoft’s fantastic Zune MP3 player otherwise the gains they have achieved with their I-Pods will be lost.
In other words, Apple can’t sell their half-assed copy of the Dell Digital Jukebox and compete against Zune forever. It might be time for Cupertino to get off their ass and come up with something. My 2¢.
Your potential. Our passion.™
@ron
You sir, are a tool who knows not of which he speaks.
Maybe one day soon Apple could buy Micro$cum, then shut them down. That would be fun to watch!
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Animeatme2. When you have been around as long as I have you may achieve a little wisdom.
Age doesn’t auto-mean wisdom or correctness…perhaps you being around so long simply means you’re starting to mold. The sooner you and the same thinking can be tossed out with the rest of the old bread, the better.
a huge part of apple’s future lies in a wide range of mobile devices. offering a network/wifi service of its own for theses devices would be a killer. this or bying 25% of intel to secure exclusive custom chips no one else can offer (imagine an even thinner successor to the macbook air (if that’s possible) and no other pc maker can offer something of a similar size because of a one year exclusive)
Now let’s see, $20 billion in the bank at say 5% return (very conservative) and that is a cool $1 billion a year just on the interest. Ya gotta like that little shot to the bottom line!!
ron, thanks for including McCain on your list of “those who want your money”. Though, I expect his grab would be quicker and deeper.
Someone should tell Todd Bishop that Apple has been “cash rich” for well over a decade. Back when the stock was trading at under $15 they had over $8 a share in cash – almost worth buying it up and extracting the cash … if you had the billion$ to work with. Many companies act as if debt is an asset that can be leveraged. Wrong!
@qka
Stock buybacks are NOT a result of a failing company.
@ron
a little wisdom?
“Or Obama. If the dems win watch out for your own money. If you can find it after a couple of years into their reign. “
yeah cause the party that destroyed the middles class, cut taxes for the wealthy and has run us through what amounts to a 7 year recession for those making less than six figures has been SOOOO good for handling money.
look, the facts are simple, the republicans account for 75% of the debt of the US over the entire existence of the country. your meme is wrong.
if by ‘wisdom’ you mean “ignorant clueless tool that repeats talking points without thinking,’ then yeah, you are steeped in it…..
shut up, your betters are talking.
back to the article, i agree with others a type of wifi or carrier network looks good, but what typical Apple move will they make to change the game and both increase profit and eliminate headaches at the same time?
@jtc:
It’s NOT a result of a failing company as you say. However, when a company buys back their stock, it normally is a harbinger of bad things to come. Look at the several companies in the last five years that did this. You will see a trend. Is it normal? For me, no. But, it could be disconcerting to others (analysts).
Zune Tang-
Your messages of late are more than a little on the lame side. You need to think more before you write. It used to be fun to read your wit as it was laced with fact and fiction and a good clean fun point to poke at Apple. Todays input just seemed lame, more like- I had better write something, but I don’t know what I can write that makes sense…
Don’t get down, just a little critique. We will await your better days returning.
ron
“Uh oh. Don’t let Hillary know they made a profit…”
Or Obama. If the dems win watch out for your own money.
I don’t want to be rude, but are some of you USAnians really that stupid? George Bush used the fear and paranoia of the US population after 9/11 to fund a massive military campaign of failure to the tune of half a billion dollars, and then set up a massive parallel bureaucracy to spy on the US public and help the debt spiral out of control to an all time high, and there are still people that believe that Republicans are fiscally responsible and Democrats “tax and spend”?
Please tell me that you are not that blindingly stupid. Please.
shen, Where I come from, it is rude to say ‘shut up’ to anyone. But that is precisely what dems always try to do. Silence any view which doesn’t toe the party line. You should remember that during the time you crow about, the dems have run congress. The president does not spend money, only the congress has that power.
@His Shadow
He is and there are far too many who are either being stupid or blinded by their own fears. It makes me tremble for my country.
desperate <> failing
However MS has lost its way, and a company that loses its way tends to buy back stock so that they have less stockholders to disappoint, and artificially boost a sagging share price (amongst many reasons for stock buy-backs.)
The modus operandi of MS has to change. The Yahoo debacle shows that they can no longer buy their way out of trouble. MS’s leadership is stagnant and needs to be shaken up.
MS has so much employee talent which is being wasted without good direction.
I’m surprised there has not been a stockholders’ revolt.
my 2¢…