4 ms·

$110B is a drop in the bucket for them though.

aczerepinski 3y ago
I saw in the news yesterday that someone was looking to buy Paramount for $26B or thereabouts. I hope they at least went through the thought exercise of whether this builds more value than five huge acquisitions that could strengthen their offerings.
- infecto 3y ago
  Apple has done buybacks for a while though, it is only much larger now. I believe their historical buybacks were around the $25b. Doing this buyback is an indication that the roic is not great enough and deem it better to give it back to shareholders. Huge acquisitions are neither easy or cheap, cheap in the sense of not only the multiple you are paying but also the costs downstream of having to take over that company.
- pjc50 3y ago
  Acquisitions tend to destroy value, especially "non core" acquisitions. I think they understand that not becoming a chaebol owning half the economy is actually a good idea.
- lupire 3y ago
  It is common to "buy" a company using shares. That's why it's called Mergers & Acquisitions.
- WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
  > someone was looking to buy Paramount for $26B Sony and Apollo Capitol 'expressed an interest'. BigCorp buys BigCorp deals seem to be about consolidating the market to 1)reduce competition 2)raise prices 3)kill jobs = a)raise bonuses b)promise a higher stock value. Also synergy. We'll get a pre-merger announcement about creating new jobs; biz media everywhere will excitedly amplify it. Typically, the DoJ can't rubber stamp these deals fast enough but sometimes they balk - or at least pretend to.
amne 3y ago
is it? don't they need money for the buyback? and they only have about $160b. what am I missing?
- infecto 3y ago
  You tell me what am I missing. They had $17,645,500,000 in unlevered FCF last quarter. With $32,695,000,000 in Cash and CE on their balance sheet. Edit: I see the gap now with your question. The buyback plan/funds are not executed all at once. A company approves amounts to be used for buybacks and then it happens over time. My point is that these buybacks are pretty normal for apple. You can look at Apples historical buyback plans and I think the last announced one was a year ago for $90b.
edgyquant 3y ago
Dont be ridiculous that’s a huge percentage of their market cap
- infecto 3y ago
  How is it ridiculous. Go look at their historical buyback plans. 2018 - $100b 2021 - $90b 2022 - $90b 2023 - $90b 2024 - $110b Is it a large? Yes. Is it out of the normal for them? No. It is also not especially a difficult reach when looking at their existing cash/security balances and FCF.

I saw in the news yesterday that someone was looking to buy Paramount for $26B or thereabouts. I hope they at least went through the thought exercise of whether this builds more value than five huge acquisitions that could strengthen their offerings.

infecto 3y ago
Apple has done buybacks for a while though, it is only much larger now. I believe their historical buybacks were around the $25b. Doing this buyback is an indication that the roic is not great enough and deem it better to give it back to shareholders. Huge acquisitions are neither easy or cheap, cheap in the sense of not only the multiple you are paying but also the costs downstream of having to take over that company.
pjc50 3y ago
Acquisitions tend to destroy value, especially "non core" acquisitions. I think they understand that not becoming a chaebol owning half the economy is actually a good idea.
lupire 3y ago
It is common to "buy" a company using shares. That's why it's called Mergers & Acquisitions.
WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
> someone was looking to buy Paramount for $26B Sony and Apollo Capitol 'expressed an interest'. BigCorp buys BigCorp deals seem to be about consolidating the market to 1)reduce competition 2)raise prices 3)kill jobs = a)raise bonuses b)promise a higher stock value. Also synergy. We'll get a pre-merger announcement about creating new jobs; biz media everywhere will excitedly amplify it. Typically, the DoJ can't rubber stamp these deals fast enough but sometimes they balk - or at least pretend to.

amne 3y ago

is it? don't they need money for the buyback? and they only have about $160b. what am I missing?

infecto 3y ago
You tell me what am I missing. They had $17,645,500,000 in unlevered FCF last quarter. With $32,695,000,000 in Cash and CE on their balance sheet. Edit: I see the gap now with your question. The buyback plan/funds are not executed all at once. A company approves amounts to be used for buybacks and then it happens over time. My point is that these buybacks are pretty normal for apple. You can look at Apples historical buyback plans and I think the last announced one was a year ago for $90b.

edgyquant 3y ago

Dont be ridiculous that’s a huge percentage of their market cap

infecto 3y ago
How is it ridiculous. Go look at their historical buyback plans. 2018 - $100b 2021 - $90b 2022 - $90b 2023 - $90b 2024 - $110b Is it a large? Yes. Is it out of the normal for them? No. It is also not especially a difficult reach when looking at their existing cash/security balances and FCF.