“Question: What would you do if you had $117 billion?” Andrew Ross Sorkin wonders for The New York Times. “That’s the challenge facing Tim Cook, Apple’s chief, whose company’s cash hoard keeps growing — by about $1 billion a week.”
“He could hold onto it. He could increase Apple’s dividend, which he instituted this year for the first time,” Sorkin writes. “Or he could spend it.”
Sorkin writes, “Having all that money can be daunting, so to help Mr. Cook, here is a potential shopping list — some must-buys and some pie-in-the-sky targets — that he may want to consider.”
• Nuance
• Twitter
• Path
• Research In Motion
• Square
• Sprint
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What would we do with $117 billion?
We’d have The King of All Macs in a palace on our own island with deep water docks for the world’s ten largest yachts and runways for the world’s ten most-expensive private jets. Oh, yeah, and we’d establish our own Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Doing it all while dressed as Samurai warriors. In short, we’re pretty sure we’d pull an Ellison x 10. Hey, you only live once!
Just kidding, we’d dedicate half of it to charter schools, invest a quarter of it in AAPL, and roam the world handing out wads of cash and spreading joie de vie!
Then again, maybe we’d just buy a controlling interest in Microsoft and put an end to the world’s misery once and for all. Muahahaha!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
heh, I like the last one.
“Then again, maybe we’d just buy a controlling interest in Microsoft and put an end to the world’s misery once and for all”
… but just enough to keep Ballmer in charge. That’ll do.
Apple is doing fine with out the help of hit whores like Andrew Ross Sorkin (even his name is pretentious) from the disreputable NY Times, so STFU Andy nobody cares what you think.
Apple makes a lot of money through Verizon and AT&T. Most of their money is through the iPhone. So I doubt they would buy Sprint.
Having said that, They may eventually need that infrastructure in they same way they need data centers when new tech is available that makes carriers obsolete.
RIM? Sure, if they can get them for a good price.
Sprint owns a controlling interest in Clear, the WiMax consortium. Done right, WiMax is a dumb pipe (Comcast, Verizon, etc.) killer. They could bypass the other carriers altogether.
Exactly.
Clear sucks. WiMax is old news – even Clear is looking at LTE.
Apple should stay far, far away from Clear.
clear does not suck !!! It’s awesome It runs all five of my devises and laptops I can stream all day long no overages unlimited data for 50.00 a month now how does that suck??
Good job clear
What about buying up Dell so they can use the same ‘Dell Dude – Mac Genius’ adverts to sell Dell PCs at the same time as Macs.
Rogers?
You had me till you bought in charter schools. Instead I would give toward improving the lot of public school, removing the need for charter schools.
Waste of money until you break the union stranglehold on public education. Charter schools, competition, and vouchers as the answer. The NEA is blocking much better education for US children.
Laurene Powell Jobs aligns against teachers unions; backs education reform, charter schools, vouchers
That’s a double-edged sword because it’s only because of unions that Americans have paid vacations, health benefits, among other things.
Unions, like anything else can be improved, but what you’re implying is to leave such matters in the hands of the private sector, who would be working to increase shareholder value over anything else.
And I include the education of the children in that “anything else.”
Public schools are, in general, failures. The teachers unions will do anything to stop successful, superior charter schools. Case in point (this is just one example among thousands): http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/jury-awards-assistant-principal-75k-for-ex-superin/nP3Nq/
Apple CEO Steve Jobs blasts teacher unions, says US schools are ‘unionized in the worst possible way’
The other issue is that public school administration has grown exponentially. Cut the administration down, and use the money to hire more teachers and improve the education. Instill discipline and stricter dress codes (have you seen what some high school girls are wearing these days?), and pass some laws to protect schools from some liability — litigation against schools and teachers has gotten out of control.
Of course, there is that annoying problem that charter schools don’t actually do any better than public schools. Maybe if we don’t think about it, it will go away.
Giving vouchers to underperforming school students only helps RICH kids, idiot. A $5000 voucher only helps if u can afford to send your kid to a $20000 a year school. Unions are not the problem, thats a lie; in fact are the reason we have 40 hr work week, safety, minimum wage, pensions, etc. Decrease class size, more teachers.
Mitt Romney believes that the long-term strategy for getting America’s economy back on track is ensuring a world class education for American students. Global competitiveness begins in the classroom. In order to achieve this goal, students must have the skills to succeed in the workforce, ensuring that the promise of opportunity in this country remains strong.
As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt saw what states can do with a culture of high expectations, accountability for results, and increased parental choice. During the third year of his term, the state’s fourth and eighth grade students ranked first in the nation in both reading and math. Massachusetts was the first state to achieve this goal and has remained the nation’s educational leader to this day. Mitt’s experience in Massachusetts reinforced the importance of innovating and duplicating, taking the best ideas from states that are succeeding and replicating them across the country.
Mitt also expanded access to high-quality public charter schools. When the 85% Democratic legislature passed a bill putting a moratorium on any new charter, Mitt vetoed the bill. He believes that no parent should be forced to send their child to a failing school and that increased choice translates into better outcomes for all students. He also realizes that teacher quality is integral to student success. States should recruit the best and brightest into the classroom and reward them for a job well done.
During his time in Massachusetts, Mitt promoted access to higher education for students. He proposed the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship, providing a four-year tuition-free scholarship to any state institution for any Massachusetts students that scored among the top 25 percent in their school. Mitt also defended the requirement that high school students pass a rigorous test to graduate and saw students and educators respond to heightened accountability with dramatically improved performance.
Part of an opportunity society is rewarding hard work and success. Mitt believes education is a key to the American dream, and students must be encouraged to pursue that dream and work hard to achieve it. Post-secondary education cannot become a luxury for the few; instead, all students should have the opportunity to attend a college that best suits their needs. Whether it is public or private, traditional or online, college must be available and affordable.
Improving education in America is a priority for Mitt. He knows what can be accomplished when governors are empowered to reform their education systems, when education entrepreneurs are given the freedom to innovate, when teachers are rewarded for boosting student achievement, and when students are empowered to select a school or education program that meets their needs. Americans have long been known for their creativity, ingenuity, and bold vision for our country, and this attitude must apply to our education system.
http://www.mittromney.com/issues/education
http://youtu.be/fDTTBVVyXTc
The only trouble is that his schools dropped the lowest student scores. It was all an illusion. Mitt loves to talk out of his ass and so do u. Clearly
Nice ad hominem attack. Pointing to the record RawMoney had in Massachusetts in no way equals talking out one’s arse.
Jim,
Who works 40 hours a week? Safety is dictated by insurance companies and minimum wage is passed by state and federal legislation. Pensions, really!? Public education is broken and unions care nothing about the kids or their education, only the employees.
Charter schools are tuition free, paid for by the same taxes which you already pay for your underperforming public schools. Only charter schools receive on average $800-$1,200 less per student, at least in my state. They do ask for donations, but that’s completely optional and I know many families who attend our charter school and who can’t even afford to pay the book deposit (there are programs to help). So the “cost issue” is a non-issue.
However, there is a problem in many teachers unions in that poor teachers who have earned tenure cannot be fired, demoted, etc. There needs to be a fair annual evaluation for all teachers, and if the teacher is not up to par, then the teacher should be replaced. Poor teachers in charter schools simply are not retained.
And charter schools are allowed to have an admissions policy. Which means they are allowed to skim the cream off the student population. Pretty easy to be successful when you don’t have to serve all the population. Misses the point of public education. Kind of like being a health insurance company that only insures healthy people.
Then you don’t know much about charter schools. My kids are starting their third year in a charter school, grades 10, 7 and 3, and they are miles ahead of where the local public schools and the stupid No Child Left Behind mentality. That law gutted budgets for Talented and Gifted type programs because schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator.
Plus, in my experience almost every teacher in a charter school is teaching there because they love teaching and they really get to TEACH. Discipline is fair but definitely enforced (actual detentions that matter, high expectations of behavior, no slutty clothes/goth/inappropriate clothing, etc.). Our charter school’s GPAs are multiplied by at least 1.1 when applying for college, and the kids are far, far better prepared than public school kids.
The way to improve public schools is to give them competition. If the public schools can’t change to improve, then better schools (whether charter, private, or other) will take over the bulk of education in this country. And after all, better education is what it’s all about, right?
i would add waze to the list as well… and the first step after is cancel the android apps of those apps… immediatly… this will strengthen the ios platform a lot!
Expensive yachts and jets, Macdailynews? You’re spending ideas are just as boring as anyone in the 1%. (Although, I must admit, having a private jet would be great. However, one is enough).
Instead, how about spending that money on something actually innovative, like a road for exclusively automated cars. That way we can have the efficiency and safety of public transportation combined with the comfort of a personal vehicle. Vertical integration doesn’t need to stop with operating systems and hardware. Artificial intelligence (Siri) is obviously the next frontier, but that doesn’t mean Apple shouldn’t have future hobbies.
Next time, you should read MacDailyNews’ entire Take before you start typing.
I would like to see them pick up Sprint, flesh out the network to the far reaches of the country, and then remove all data limits! Yea, that would be awesome.
Level 3 Communications (Market Cap +/- $4 Billion) for a worldwide tier 1 network. Apple could not build a worldwide net for such a price. Use your imagination as to why.
Sirius XM (Market Cap +/- 8.2 Billion) for 2 complete satellite distribution networks for the United States. Continue to operate one for satellite radio- rebranded as iTunes Radio. The second service could be repurposed by Apple for direct data delivery bypassing local ISPs with a close to universal footprint in the US market. Like Level 3, Apple could not build such capability at the market price. Could be marketed /used for any number of purposes.
Use the leverage of backbone data (Level 3 Comm) to create a Virtual network via various ISPs to deliver IPTV and internet service nationwide.
I think Apple should buy twitter but keep it run independently like Google did with YouTube. Take advantage of the advertising potential of twitter.
Cash is growing a billion dollars a week? At best it is growing that much every month. What am I missing?
Mentioned this more that once, I’d like to see Apple buy Adobe.
A fully integrated design and publishing experience fully utilizing the best technology and industrial design on demand, seamlessly updating creative work across all devices. Mobile design, publishing, writing, photography/video and much more.
While available now, the Apple vertical integration model would put it over the top …
No. Adobe is going to stagnate and move into decline. It is like Microsoft, a desktop-based software behemoth which cannot adapt to the new slim, fast mobile market. Plus, its products are very niche market, particularly since Flash support is rapidly dying.
Why on God’s Green Earth would Apple want to buy RIM? The only think I can think of is for the patent trove, but instead wait until RIM goes bankrupt and but just that asset from the bankruptcy liquidation proceedings.
Sprint? Really?!? Why would Apple want to deal with the spaghetti mess of a network that Sprint has cobbled together?
Yeah, and I’m still skeptical that Sprint has cleaned up its self-destructive work culture. It used to be the very antithesis of the far superior Apple work culture.
If Apple bought Sprint, T-Mobile, or any mobile service provider, it would instantly face problems from Verizon, AT&T, etc. and possible FTC issues for selling iPhones and iPads to those vendors while giving itself better deals. At least that would be the allegation.
Plus, networks are on the way to becoming dumb pipes just like phone lines. The industry is moving toward a one fee, all access pricing plan like cable internet has become.
I’d buy new socks.
Nokia and RIM. But what to do with the other 100 billion?
I think Apple should by RIM and then make an iPhone with the RIM keyboard/keypad with the slide up screen that RIM makes for one phone for ATT.
Look at the research! Charter schools do not perform better than public schools. In fact that often don’t do as well. Don’t waste the billions.
Well, in some areas the Charter schools are a godsend compared to the local public school. IOW: It depends.
Sprint: No way. Apple does NOT want to get into BEING the mobile service.
RIM: No way. RIM have nothing to offer.
Twitter: No way. Twitter is going great on its own and Apple gets to be pals.
Nuance: YES PLEASE! There is some great tech for Apple to PWN.
Path: I could deal with that! But I’m not sure Apple would treat them right.
Square: That would be more of a distraction to Apple than an asset. Kind of an iffy buy.
Along comes one more clown with ‘visions’ of what Apple must do with its cash.
If Apple wants to be a world player, it had better spend its money penetrating emerging markets where their current market share is very close to zero.
Buying any has-been company (or thinly-disguised “social media” ad agency is a waste of resources. Apple, focus on what you do well, and keep improving. Attempting to be everything to everyone is the way to become a Microsoft.