Perhaps Masker misheard someone proclaiming that Apple's share value has been almost cut in half over the past couple months. (52week high of 26.17, low of 13.80). Their market capitlization is 5.4billion, so a big chop would be over 2billion dollars of worth.
What Masker said he heard:
"Apple's Cash took a huge downturn 2 weeks ago..... 50% drop according to insiders. what does a company do with 2 billion?"
And what the source could have actually said:
"Apple's stock took a huge downturn 2 weeks ago..... 50% drop according to insiders. what does a company do without 2 billion?"
Anyone spending any amount of cash to buy Quark is spending the exactly same amount too much for it. Quark has had it's days.</strong><hr></blockquote>
quark is the syquest of the next two years. good riddance!
This is what a couple of us were alluding to at the top of this thread -- forget all the silly buy-this/buy-that theories... Apple needs to make itself look a little less desirable to a takeover. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Right. Assuming there was no poison pill (and there's no question that there is) I personally know 3 people that could take Apple over by leveraging the cash in the company.
The cash was always reserved to help get Apple through lean times and to make strategic acquisitions. This is the right time to make those acquisitions, but Apple won't let $2B go unless they are going to get a hell of a lot from it.
Taking MOTs Altivec and G4 interest won't cost much - $100M, maybe a bit more. MOT won't dump PPC because it will be valuable to them in the embedded space. Taking Quark might not be a bad idea, considering how much they are screwing Apple right now, but again, it's not worth that much.
Macromedia might be a decent play for a few hundred million to use as 'encouragement' to get Adobe to fully embrace QE. I'm concerned that Adobe will shun QE rather than totally churn their Windows base. With nobody driving them, they can afford to do that. Adobe + QE = marketshare.
On the flip side, so might TiVo. In spite of Steve's comments re a PVR, Apple and TiVo make an interesting pair, with each company bringing something compelling to the other.
MSFT has stopped acquiring companies not because of antitrust, but because they can't afford to. They've been dropping most of their profits back into buying back their own stock (over $6B last year) to prop up the price and to mask the share dilution from all of those employee stock options being exercised. If their profits dry up any and they have to stop doing this, they could spiral fast. MSFT is an interesting house of cards. They've gone long on some bets (Xbox) and it's clear that they're going to play out.
But if Apple did part with $2B, look for them to largely corner and drive a market, acquire strong core technology, talent, and IP that supports OS X, shoot for sales over profits, and possibly take on some debt to help with the takeover issues.
Look for something dramatic like nVidia and ATI.
I still don't think it's gonna happen. There's a big risk that companies will need to start expensing employee options. Apple will be f*cked if this happens (as will MSFT). I think every quarterly profit since Steve's return would have been a loss under this model (last quarter would have been over $1 loss under this model). If Apple needed to expense, they'll need a lot of that cash to buy those shares before they show as operating expenses.
This rumor is crazy... I can't believe this is 3 pages!!!!! I need to find some stuff for you guys to bleed on to pull you off this.
Oh and I heard this guy talking he said something about Apple purchasing nVIDIA and ATI as well as the rights to ALTIVEC from motorola. Oh and my cat told me we would be taken over by aliens on December 12 2012. And the voices in my head tell me that apple has a G5 made especially for them by intel and that Microsoft is going to file bankrupsy later this month. GOSH so much info it must be true... In time.
I knew it thats what it is Framistans the new super power that all macs will run on named after steves secret planet framinstan X. Soon after framistans will take over the world and convert it into a big apple. All Your Base Are Belong To Use. You Have No Chance Survive Make Your Time. HA HA HA HA
ALL YOUR BASE, YOUR BASE, BASE, BASE, ALL YOUR BASE, ARE BELONG TO US!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything is very simple indeed. Apple has really spent $ 2 bln buying out every single developer, manager and artist from Microsoft. You ask what for? Apple is going to implement their own Windows built in Mac OS XI. They need MS developers so that Mac OS Windows 3000 XXX would freeze sooner than you touch any key; Apple needs MS managers to flog the brain-frozen developers; Apple wants MS human interface designers to release the ugliest OS ever (imagine 4-bit colored icons at 512x512 pixels size). When Wintel users see this, they will begin to switch.
There is another opportunity though. It is a top-secret deal with Bill Gates (or, rather, a bribe) to get the BSOD source code from MS. Apple has conducted a poll recently which shows that most PC users don't switch just because they got used to BSOD to such an extent that they want some hardware acceleration for it. Think of it: BSOD on steroids with QuartzExtreme. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
<strong>Maybe this thread will eventually get locked.....
in time.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Agreed - it's about 2.5 pages overdue. The Modzillas have been so obnoxious (IMHO) about locking threads lately - many with much more useful discussion - I don't see what's so special about this one to have escaped their wrath thus far... <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
That Apple is in a dangerous position, having US $4.3 Billion in cash, and a market cap of US $5.3 billion. Which means that for a cult brand that makes US $8 Billion in revenue each year, you would only need to spend US $1 Billion to buy it, and that could be earned back pretty fast.
However, $2 Billion on a single purchase is huge, and if this rumor was true it would probably be most if not all of Motorola PPC with a couple of foundries thrown in.
<rant>
Why the f*** didn't Apple have the 2 brain cells required for realising that buying out MS while they still could would have been A Good Idea??
apparently the reason for not locking is that its a rumor.
of course one without any shred of evidence
other topics have repots on websites and alleged sources backing them up. this one has nothing.
So by this logic i can say apple is gonna release thier own g5 developed in house even though there is no evidnce to back this up and disregard the fact that i'm completely making it up
<strong>So by this logic i can say apple is gonna release thier own g5 developed in house even though there is no evidnce to back this up and disregard the fact that i'm completely making it up</strong><hr></blockquote>
No, you have to say a friend of yours who works for a Mac software company slipped it to you.
Once again, people with no interest in a topic make it necessary to lock it.
I bet if I decide to wash my car at the weekend, you guys'll be round to watch and tell me I'm doing it all wrong..?
If you want to take a opposing stance in these rumor threads, how about a reasoned discussion as to why it's baloney instead of dismissing it with a "crap!" or "lock!"? Jeez. This stuff is supposed to be fun!
Comments
What Masker said he heard:
"Apple's Cash took a huge downturn 2 weeks ago..... 50% drop according to insiders. what does a company do with 2 billion?"
And what the source could have actually said:
"Apple's stock took a huge downturn 2 weeks ago..... 50% drop according to insiders. what does a company do without 2 billion?"
Pretty similar...
<strong>
Anyone spending any amount of cash to buy Quark is spending the exactly same amount too much for it. Quark has had it's days.</strong><hr></blockquote>
quark is the syquest of the next two years. good riddance!
<strong>
This is what a couple of us were alluding to at the top of this thread -- forget all the silly buy-this/buy-that theories... Apple needs to make itself look a little less desirable to a takeover. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Right. Assuming there was no poison pill (and there's no question that there is) I personally know 3 people that could take Apple over by leveraging the cash in the company.
The cash was always reserved to help get Apple through lean times and to make strategic acquisitions. This is the right time to make those acquisitions, but Apple won't let $2B go unless they are going to get a hell of a lot from it.
Taking MOTs Altivec and G4 interest won't cost much - $100M, maybe a bit more. MOT won't dump PPC because it will be valuable to them in the embedded space. Taking Quark might not be a bad idea, considering how much they are screwing Apple right now, but again, it's not worth that much.
Macromedia might be a decent play for a few hundred million to use as 'encouragement' to get Adobe to fully embrace QE. I'm concerned that Adobe will shun QE rather than totally churn their Windows base. With nobody driving them, they can afford to do that. Adobe + QE = marketshare.
On the flip side, so might TiVo. In spite of Steve's comments re a PVR, Apple and TiVo make an interesting pair, with each company bringing something compelling to the other.
MSFT has stopped acquiring companies not because of antitrust, but because they can't afford to. They've been dropping most of their profits back into buying back their own stock (over $6B last year) to prop up the price and to mask the share dilution from all of those employee stock options being exercised. If their profits dry up any and they have to stop doing this, they could spiral fast. MSFT is an interesting house of cards. They've gone long on some bets (Xbox) and it's clear that they're going to play out.
But if Apple did part with $2B, look for them to largely corner and drive a market, acquire strong core technology, talent, and IP that supports OS X, shoot for sales over profits, and possibly take on some debt to help with the takeover issues.
Look for something dramatic like nVidia and ATI.
I still don't think it's gonna happen. There's a big risk that companies will need to start expensing employee options. Apple will be f*cked if this happens (as will MSFT). I think every quarterly profit since Steve's return would have been a loss under this model (last quarter would have been over $1 loss under this model). If Apple needed to expense, they'll need a lot of that cash to buy those shares before they show as operating expenses.
Oh and I heard this guy talking he said something about Apple purchasing nVIDIA and ATI as well as the rights to ALTIVEC from motorola. Oh and my cat told me we would be taken over by aliens on December 12 2012. And the voices in my head tell me that apple has a G5 made especially for them by intel and that Microsoft is going to file bankrupsy later this month. GOSH so much info it must be true... In time.
I know, they nought $2 Billion of Framistans for the new Power Mac lineup....
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I knew it thats what it is Framistans the new super power that all macs will run on named after steves secret planet framinstan X. Soon after framistans will take over the world and convert it into a big apple. All Your Base Are Belong To Use. You Have No Chance Survive Make Your Time. HA HA HA HA
ALL YOUR BASE, YOUR BASE, BASE, BASE, ALL YOUR BASE, ARE BELONG TO US!!!!!!!!!!!!
In time.
in time.
There is another opportunity though. It is a top-secret deal with Bill Gates (or, rather, a bribe) to get the BSOD source code from MS. Apple has conducted a poll recently which shows that most PC users don't switch just because they got used to BSOD to such an extent that they want some hardware acceleration for it. Think of it: BSOD on steroids with QuartzExtreme. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
<strong>Maybe this thread will eventually get locked.....
in time.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Agreed - it's about 2.5 pages overdue. The Modzillas have been so obnoxious (IMHO) about locking threads lately - many with much more useful discussion - I don't see what's so special about this one to have escaped their wrath thus far... <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
That Apple is in a dangerous position, having US $4.3 Billion in cash, and a market cap of US $5.3 billion. Which means that for a cult brand that makes US $8 Billion in revenue each year, you would only need to spend US $1 Billion to buy it, and that could be earned back pretty fast.
However, $2 Billion on a single purchase is huge, and if this rumor was true it would probably be most if not all of Motorola PPC with a couple of foundries thrown in.
<rant>
Why the f*** didn't Apple have the 2 brain cells required for realising that buying out MS while they still could would have been A Good Idea??
</rant>
Barto
[ 08-02-2002: Message edited by: Barto ]</p>
of course one without any shred of evidence
other topics have repots on websites and alleged sources backing them up. this one has nothing.
So by this logic i can say apple is gonna release thier own g5 developed in house even though there is no evidnce to back this up and disregard the fact that i'm completely making it up
<strong>So by this logic i can say apple is gonna release thier own g5 developed in house even though there is no evidnce to back this up and disregard the fact that i'm completely making it up</strong><hr></blockquote>
No, you have to say a friend of yours who works for a Mac software company slipped it to you.
That's m'boy!
Lemon Bon Bon
<strong>Hey, I heard a rumor that Disney was going to buy Apple!</strong><hr></blockquote>
That's SO 20th century.
[ 08-02-2002: Message edited by: Alpha Mac ]</p>
<img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" /> <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
I bet if I decide to wash my car at the weekend, you guys'll be round to watch and tell me I'm doing it all wrong..?
If you want to take a opposing stance in these rumor threads, how about a reasoned discussion as to why it's baloney instead of dismissing it with a "crap!" or "lock!"? Jeez. This stuff is supposed to be fun!
[BuonRotto, I'm getting mad again...