Pulling in billions of dollars quarter after quarter, Apple has provided Silicon Valley with a seemingly endless guessing game about possible mergers and acquisitions — but one that has largely gone on up to now without the participation of Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive.
But during Apple’s conference call on Monday, October 25th after Apple reported a strong surge in profit and revenue in its fourth quarter — Mr. Jobs said point-blank that Apple was saving its cash to use some day for one or more “strategic opportunities” that the company would be in a unique position to pursue..
The company has an eye-popping $51 billion in cash and short-term and long-term securities. Most of Apple’s recent acquisitions, like the chip maker Intrinsity in April or PA Semitwo years before that, have been aimed at providing components or human capital that will bolster Apple’s product development. A bigger target that fits within that space would be the chip maker ARM Holdings, which Apple has been rumored in the past as having an interest in buying.
More intriguing, perhaps, would be if Apple instead switched gears from components and began to pursue companies that deal in the world of content — either companies that deliver content or make it. The most headline-grabbing acquisition Apple could make would likely be in the realm of social networking. Facebook may make sense, as crazy as it sounds but it would be a game-changer. Facebook has 500 million users with huge scope of advertisements. so, this may make sense. This speculation has been further fuelled by the recent dinner of the Apple CEO with Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, th Facebook CEO.
So the guessing game continues.
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