applesauce007

flaneur said:

rogifan_new said:

flaneur said:

sog35 said:

anantksundaram said:

vukasika said:

Nah this will face too much opposition to be passed besides, AT&T only has a cash reserve of $7billion and would need financing for the remaining cash portion of the deal. However, they are already carrying $120 Billion (yes Billion) in Debt. Also don't forget AT&T just acquired Direct TV in 2013 and already owns the U-Verse cable brand. I seriously doubt this makes it pass the antitrust regulations even if AT&T manages to come up with the financing it would need to close the deal.

You sound like you're just making up stuff. The $85B is being paid for with 50% stock, 50% cash. The amount they will borrow is $40B (and they already have commitments from J P Morgan and Bank of America for that).

Damn. Apple should start buying companies with stock, since they spent over $120 billion on buybacks already.

it blows my mind Tim Cook is unwilling to take risks to buy companies

It's not about avoiding risk. Most companies compared to Apple have fatal flaws. In fact, they're mostly trading in obsolete or dead-end garbage, like Time-Warner is.

Think about it. Apple when it makes a move is always pushing evolution. When they buy a company, it's always one that is on some cutting edge in technology or software. 

Entertainment, the so-called content business, is a shrinking, fading enterprise. Younger people aren't watching TV or going to movies like they used to. They're watching each other do their own broadcasting. "Consuming" media is dead, or dying.

Digital media in the hands of the  masses will disrupt the "content providers" in the same way that the printing press disrupted the monopoly of the Roman Church.

What was/is cutting edge about Beats?

I was thinking you might ask that. Beats was an expanding mobile audio platform (like the iPod) when Apple bought it. 

Because it appealed to a demographic that you aren't familiar with, you've consistently missed its potential for Apple to take on a huge new market. Both Apple and Beats have shown that it's all in the package, Apple many times over. Making that kind of package is a technology called industrial design.