“Apple Inc. detailed its first decline in iPhone sales Tuesday, part of an earnings report that broke up more than a decade of continued growth for the tech giant,” Jeremy C. Owens reports for MarketWatch. “To cure Apple’s growth problems, Chief Executive Tim Cook suggested he may go shopping.”
“Cook said Tuesday that Apple had acquired 15 companies in the past four quarters, though it appears none were material enough for Apple to inform investors about individually. That could change, though, as the Apple CEO admitted that he is open to a large acquisition,” Owens reports. “‘We’re always looking in the market about things that could complement things that we do today, become features in something we do, or allow us to accelerate entry into a category that we’re excited about,’ Cook said, adding later, ‘We would definitely buy something larger than we bought thus far.'”
“Apple’s largest acquisition in its history was the $3 billion purchase of headphone maker Beats Electronics LLC in 2014, and most of Apple’s other purchases have not come close to that total,” Owens reports. “With that in mind, Cook’s statement Tuesday turned some heads. ‘They haven’t said as much publicly before, so that’s the real change,” JackDaw research analyst Jan Dawson said.'”
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MacDailyNews Take: Cue up a replay of the “Apple to buy Tesla” scuttlebutt.