4 ms·

What would the world look like if Facebook IPOs and Apple immediately buys them out with their horde of cash?

loganfrederick 15y ago
Considering CNBC on the TV near my desk just said Facebook is going to be valued between $75 billion and $100 billion, I would say Apple is not going to make that acquisition.
radicaldreamer 15y ago
Typically, the number of shares available on the public market at IPO time won't give anyone a controlling share- even if they bought all of the available shares.
thetrendycyborg 15y ago
Wouldn't happen. You can't just make huge purchases on the stock market. They'd have to iceberg that over such a long time I could never imagine it, and even then it would definitely get noticed. They'd have to do a heck of a lot of paperwork too, it would need a lot of scrutiny.
alpb 15y ago
That's not a piece of cake. Buying a company is not just buying its assets —employees, database, source code etc, but also acquiring its culture and it is really hard to sustain a culture. There should be a reason behind why Apple buys Facebook. Does it want user base, for what? Does it want employees or the project idea? Not that simple as many of you already know.
raldi 15y ago
They're only selling 10% of the company, according to this report.
philwelch 15y ago
What on earth would Apple do with Facebook? Apple, by virtue of actually making things people want to buy, has massive profit margins compared to Facebook, and can more usefully spend their horde of cash on, say, cornering the market on NAND flash.
- cydonian_monk 15y ago
  To retro-paraphrase your question: "What on Earth would Apple do with NeXT?" Sometimes it's not about the product, but the people. Maybe the current Apple board /really/ wants Zuck to run the show. Best way to do that is to buy FB. I agree with you, though. Apple buying FB would be a not-so-small mistake.
  - randomdata 15y ago
    "What on Earth would Apple do with NeXT?" Use their software holdings to become a major success story? I'm sure the people helped, but Apple wouldn't be anything like they are today without ownership of NeXTStep. And it was no secret at the time that Apple was looking for software as they were also courting Be.
  - philwelch 15y ago
    In 1997, Apple desperately needed an operating system, which is why they bought NeXT. Having Steve Jobs as CEO wasn't actually what either party had planned on.
  - mikeash 15y ago
    The NeXT acquisition was totally about the product. Apple's product line today is built almost entirely on what NeXT brought to the table.
getsat 15y ago
Even if 100% of their company was available for purchase, Apple doesn't have enough cash on hand to meet their current alleged price.

Considering CNBC on the TV near my desk just said Facebook is going to be valued between $75 billion and $100 billion, I would say Apple is not going to make that acquisition.

radicaldreamer 15y ago

Typically, the number of shares available on the public market at IPO time won't give anyone a controlling share- even if they bought all of the available shares.

thetrendycyborg 15y ago

Wouldn't happen. You can't just make huge purchases on the stock market. They'd have to iceberg that over such a long time I could never imagine it, and even then it would definitely get noticed. They'd have to do a heck of a lot of paperwork too, it would need a lot of scrutiny.

alpb 15y ago

That's not a piece of cake. Buying a company is not just buying its assets —employees, database, source code etc, but also acquiring its culture and it is really hard to sustain a culture. There should be a reason behind why Apple buys Facebook. Does it want user base, for what? Does it want employees or the project idea? Not that simple as many of you already know.

raldi 15y ago

They're only selling 10% of the company, according to this report.

philwelch 15y ago

What on earth would Apple do with Facebook? Apple, by virtue of actually making things people want to buy, has massive profit margins compared to Facebook, and can more usefully spend their horde of cash on, say, cornering the market on NAND flash.

cydonian_monk 15y ago
To retro-paraphrase your question: "What on Earth would Apple do with NeXT?" Sometimes it's not about the product, but the people. Maybe the current Apple board /really/ wants Zuck to run the show. Best way to do that is to buy FB. I agree with you, though. Apple buying FB would be a not-so-small mistake.
- randomdata 15y ago
  "What on Earth would Apple do with NeXT?" Use their software holdings to become a major success story? I'm sure the people helped, but Apple wouldn't be anything like they are today without ownership of NeXTStep. And it was no secret at the time that Apple was looking for software as they were also courting Be.
- philwelch 15y ago
  In 1997, Apple desperately needed an operating system, which is why they bought NeXT. Having Steve Jobs as CEO wasn't actually what either party had planned on.
- mikeash 15y ago
  The NeXT acquisition was totally about the product. Apple's product line today is built almost entirely on what NeXT brought to the table.

getsat 15y ago

Even if 100% of their company was available for purchase, Apple doesn't have enough cash on hand to meet their current alleged price.