We have almost $25 billion safely in the bank and zero debt. This provides us tremendous stability and the ability to invest our way through this downturn. This is what we did during the last downturn–we increased R&D investments and created some of our best new products and businesses, like the Apple retail stores, for one. This downturn may also present some extraordinary opportunities for companies that have the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does.”
Apple made its first acquisition on March 2, 1988 with the purchase of Network Innovations. Since that time it’s made just 23 more, including its recent $275 million purchase of Quattro Wireless. Which isn’t all that many for a company with $23 billion in the bank (as a point of comparison, Google has acquired 11 companies in the last 18 months, alone).
But that may soon change, because Cupertino finally has a dedicated acquisitions specialist, Adrian Perica. According to BusinessWeek, the former Goldman Sachs banker — who was brought in after Apple reportedly lost AdMob to Google — is believed to have quarterbacked the company’s purchase of music site Lala in December and its subsequent purchase of Quattro Wireless earlier this month. Both were executed uncharateristically quickly for Apple, which suggests that company’s lackadaisical, ad hoc approach to M&A has been recast to make it, necessarily, more nimble. Said one Silicon Valley banker, “[Apple’s] always gone slow on M&A, but that’s changing.”
Perhaps it’s time for that long-rumored merger with Adobe (ADBE). Incidentally, Adobe’s market cap is $18.66 billion. …
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