Apple execs are 'actively discussing' what to do with nearly $100B cash hoard

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  • Reply 41 of 120
    jonoromjonorom Posts: 293member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Paul94544 View Post


    since it doeans't make much sense to bring it into the USA and buying HTC or Samsung - thats stupid stupid and would not be allowed, the next best thing might be to spend some of it buying spectrum. Getting the iPad out from under carriers around the world and creating an Apple network for their devices. I'd start with the UK. Also buy up content for the Apple TV and Apple HDTV. Trouble is a lot of this content is owned by US companies. Sony has a lot of it though.



    Also going after rights to soccer, sport and so on would really add to the allure of iOS and put pressure on Netflix, Hulu etc as well



    Imagine Apple having the exclusive rights to most of NBA, Golf, The Masters, World Tennis Grand slam, English soccer, Formula One. The list is endless and thats mainly the English market, what about South America and Asia. Most of these wouldn't cost more than couple of billion each for multi year deals and they could make money back by selling through iTunes.



    I think they will buy (or do a cash deal with) a provider like Direct TV. Like they did with AT&T for the iPhone. Apple will make the new iTV the standard for one provider, with lots of new services and ease of use. And acquire lots of content deals in the bargain.



    Start with one provider and then expand. Sell Direct TV and move on to another. Today Direct TV has a market cap of $31B, and Apple could finance a good portion of the purchase price; it would probably take about 10% of their cash to get this rolling. Direct TV's PE is about 14, so Apple would be earning a lot more than they are currently with their cash holdings.
  • Reply 42 of 120
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cdub View Post


    Ummm... move jobs back to the US and build the iPhone here?



    The fact that they employ Sinclair Jungle-esque slave labor camps in China sickens me.



    As an American, I would love this. But Apple's CEO and board isn't looking at the interests of Americans- it's in the interest of the shareholders. It's a company- that's how it works. You can always not invest or not support their products- that's all we can do. I like their products too much.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zoetmb View Post


    No...I don't think that's correct. I think you get to deduct the taxes that you paid overseas when you bring the money home. Any tax experts here?



    They do. They would be in the 35% tax bracket in the US. So if they paid 17% tax in country X, they would only pay 18% (for easy math) at home as their previous 17% is deducted. So they will pay no more than 35% for having the money in the US. But a previous poster was right when he said why bring it back- they have 34 billion in the US now and they aren't doing anything with it.
  • Reply 43 of 120
    kent909kent909 Posts: 731member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cdub View Post


    Ummm... move jobs back to the US and build the iPhone here?



    The fact that they employ Sinclair Jungle-esque slave labor camps in China sickens me.



    Yes, that would be nice. Unfortunately not logistically feasible. The production lines needed to produce 411,000 iPhones a day last quarter to keep up with demand. Where would you build such a facility? We're would you get the production workers, the engineers, and everyone else to do this. Yes in time, maybe in 10 years you could move this operation here. Then you would have all the delays due to environmental studies, union activities, U.S government mucking about, not to mention all the politicians fighting for the chance to land a gold mine like this in their state. Maybe 20 years.



    What Apple could do is set up a smaller operation to make U.S. made products available to those willing to pay more for the distinction. It would be interesting to see how many Americans would actually speak their position with their wallets.
  • Reply 44 of 120
    try to win another $20 million by buying a million lottery tickets.
  • Reply 45 of 120
    kent909kent909 Posts: 731member
    How about they give it all to the big banks. They have fallen on hard times as of late. There senior managers have not been very creative lately in figuring out how to get more of their customers. I really do feel bad for them. Come on Tim step up and do the right thing here.



  • Reply 46 of 120
    cdubcdub Posts: 8member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kent909 View Post


    Yes, that would be nice. Unfortunately not logistically feasible. The production lines needed to produce 411,000 iPhones a day last quarter to keep up with demand. Where would you build such a facility? We're would you get the production workers, the engineers, and everyone else to do this. Yes in time, maybe in 10 years you could move this operation here. Then you would have all the delays due to environmental studies, union activities, U.S government mucking about, not to mention all the politicians fighting for the chance to land a gold mine like this in their state. Maybe 20 years.



    What Apple could do is set up a smaller operation to make U.S. made products available to those willing to pay more for the distinction. It would be interesting to see how many Americans would actually speak their position with their wallets.



    With 97 Billion in the bank and 13 billion in profit this is easy.



    The workers exist here in the states. The only reason people say they don't is that they'd rather use cheap slave labor and they're trying to rationalize it.



    If they built the factory here they'd have to turn people away the demand to work there would be so high,



    "If you build it they will come."
  • Reply 47 of 120
    jonoromjonorom Posts: 293member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kent909 View Post


    Yes, that would be nice. Unfortunately not logistically feasible. The production lines needed to produce 411,000 iPhones a day last quarter to keep up with demand. Where would you build such a facility? We're would you get the production workers, the engineers, and everyone else to do this. Yes in time, maybe in 10 years you could move this operation here. Then you would have all the delays due to environmental studies, union activities, U.S government mucking about, not to mention all the politicians fighting for the chance to land a gold mine like this in their state. Maybe 20 years.



    What Apple could do is set up a smaller operation to make U.S. made products available to those willing to pay more for the distinction. It would be interesting to see how many Americans would actually speak their position with their wallets.



    It was recently estimated that manufacturing the iPhone in the USA would cost $46 more than doing it in China. With gross margins of 45% on a $600 device (about $260 gross profit on each 16G phone), that would be affordable for Apple.



    Rather than us paying $246 for a 16G iPhone, perhaps Apple could suffer a smaller profit, like only 30%, which would exceed every other electronics company? After all, if little ole Brazil can insist (successfully) that Apple manufacture iPhones and iPads there, why not the USA? Because we don't care if the 99% have good jobs, that's why.
  • Reply 48 of 120
    cdubcdub Posts: 8member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JONOROM View Post


    It was recently estimated that manufacturing the iPhone in the USA would cost $46 more than doing it in China. With gross margins of 45% on a $600 device (about $260 gross profit on each 16G phone), that would be affordable for Apple.



    Rather than us paying $246 for a 16G iPhone, perhaps Apple could suffer a smaller profit, like only 30%, which would exceed every other electronics company? After all, if little ole Brazil can insist (successfully) that Apple manufacture iPhones and iPads there, why not the USA? Because we don't care if the 99% have good jobs, that's why.



    Amen.
  • Reply 49 of 120
    jonoromjonorom Posts: 293member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kent909 View Post


    How about they give it all to the big banks. They have fallen on hard times as of late. There senior managers have not been very creative lately in figuring out how to get more of their customers. I really do feel bad for them. Come on Tim step up and do the right thing here.







    With their cash now, they could buy Citibank outright. Not that they should!
  • Reply 50 of 120
    They do have a ton of cash and one thing is for sure...they have enough business sense that they aren't going to give away stuff for free as much as we would like them to.



    For example, they could easily give the latest Mac operating system for free. I personally would like to see them do this to decrease the segmentation in the market. It is honestly a support nightmare...they could resolve it by giving Leopard away for free so that PowerPC users can be at the latest available, and Lion for free.



    At least with iOS 5 they made that a free update so there will be relatively minor segmentation except with those older devices that they dropped support for.



    I am of course disappointed that with all of this money they can't justify the cost of keeping Rosetta in Lion for PowerPC compatibility, or even making iBooks Author work with Snow Leopard. Apple lost a lot of my respect with those moves. I use that info to remind myself that Apple is just a corporation that doesn't have my best interests in mind.
  • Reply 51 of 120
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    Pay a dividend.
  • Reply 52 of 120
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Goldenclaw View Post


    It is honestly a support nightmare...they could resolve it by giving Leopard away for free so that PowerPC users can be at the latest available, and Lion for free.



    Then they'd have to give away Snow Leopard for free and maintain crap telling people that they can't get Lion, can't get Snow Leopard, etc. No.



    Quote:

    I am of course disappointed that with all of this money they can't justify the cost of keeping Rosetta in Lion for PowerPC compatibility,



    It's eight years old. Move on.
  • Reply 53 of 120
    jonoromjonorom Posts: 293member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kent909 View Post


    Yes, that would be nice. Unfortunately not logistically feasible. The production lines needed to produce 411,000 iPhones a day last quarter to keep up with demand. Where would you build such a facility? We're would you get the production workers, the engineers, and everyone else to do this. Yes in time, maybe in 10 years you could move this operation here. Then you would have all the delays due to environmental studies, union activities, U.S government mucking about, not to mention all the politicians fighting for the chance to land a gold mine like this in their state. Maybe 20 years.



    What Apple could do is set up a smaller operation to make U.S. made products available to those willing to pay more for the distinction. It would be interesting to see how many Americans would actually speak their position with their wallets.



    Where would you build such a facility? Texas



    We're would you get the production workers, the engineers, and everyone else to do this. With 18% unemployment (including discouraged workers) which equals millions of Americans, I don't think that woudl be much of a problem.



    Then you would have all the delays due to environmental studies, union activities, U.S government mucking about,
    If Samsung can build a $5B fab in Texas for the A5 and A6 in less than a year, I don't think this will be a problem.



    You are just one of the "negos" (as I used to say in grade school). America has the first or second largest manufacturing sector in the world (depending upon who's numbers you are using). The hurdles here are comparable (but NOT the same) as in any other country. Look at the government corruption, roadblocking and graft in China. They just finally approved the iPhone 4S, after months of delay!



    We could do it within a blink of the eye.
  • Reply 54 of 120
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by franktinsley View Post


    1. Save up all the money.

    2. Buy Earth.

    3. Start Federation of Planets.



    That might explain why everyone uses tablets in the 24th Century.



  • Reply 55 of 120
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by paulchsieh View Post


    Seriously, Apple should buy RIM so that it can enter Enterprise market. ......

    RIM is very cheap now.



    RIMM is going to be a lot less expensive in a year or so. Or for that matter maybe tomorrow.
  • Reply 56 of 120
    macslutmacslut Posts: 514member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JONOROM View Post


    I agree and disagree. I've listened to the last few of these and today there seemed to be a lot more energy and emphasis on the use of Apple's cash "being actively discussed." Listen to the tone of voice - I heard excitement in Tim's voice when talking about (I think specifically) aquisitions. Do others agree?



    Absolutely.



    Apple wants to do something with the cash. I'm guessing dividends because the executive team doesn't want to be a mega-corp being in all kinds of businesses. They want to be focused with a small set of core businesses related to each other and integrated in a meaning way.



    My guess is the only thing holding this up is favorable repatriation terms. Look for an announcement in Obama's state of the union speech tonight. No mention of anything along these lines may mean Apple will sit on the cash for a while or spend it abroad.
  • Reply 57 of 120
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jd_in_sb View Post


    I hope Apple doesn't feel the need to spend their cash or give it to shareholders. Apple could be struggling financially 10-20 years from now. Or maybe not. You never know what the future holds.



    Dividends! Dividends!
  • Reply 58 of 120
    Buy Saab!
  • Reply 59 of 120
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by applecider View Post


    RIMM is going to be a lot less expensive in a year or so. Or for that matter maybe tomorrow.



    Tomorrow Heins is going to announce that, in light of Apple's quarterly earnings report, Research in Motion is closing up shop and giving the money back to the shareholders.
  • Reply 60 of 120
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PaulMJohnson View Post


    On the tax issue, it rather dents the argument that allowing a tax holiday to allow them to repatriate money held offshore so they could spend it in the US, when Apple have ~$34bn in the US that they aren't doing anything with.



    I say they should give a large chunk of it to their employees. Money going into the hand of people who will spend it (as opposed to giving amounts to execs that can't possibly spend it all) would help the economy.



    its the shareholders money
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