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Apple does not see opportunity at the moment which is why it's holding the huge amount of cash. And I do recall Steve Jobs giving advice about really focusing o

Apple does not see opportunity at the moment which is why it's holding the huge amount of cash. And I do recall Steve Jobs giving advice about really focusing on the few things that the company does that makes it so great which would help explain it's huge cash reserves. The company is not trying to enter many different markets all at once.

nl 13y ago
Apple does not see opportunity at the moment which is why it's holding the huge amount of cash. Exactly - that's the OP's point. Amazon has the vision to invest its cash in building entire new lines of business, whereas Apple can't see any opportunities.
- tixocloud 13y ago
  But it's not Apple's game to play in the things that Amazon plays. Amazon has their own strategy and Apple has their own strategy. Building entire new lines of business is risky and Apple probably does not think that the risk is worth the reward at the end. There's also the question of whether Apple can do as well as Amazon at what it does.
- hershel 13y ago
  It's partly because is amazon is high margin business, so it view almost everything as an opportunity to raise revenue and 9maybe margins) , but apple is a high margin company, and those opportunists are harder to find.
scarmig 13y ago
That's just the thing: even if a company like Apple might be inclined to ignore short-sighted shareholders, nearly always they don't have the institutional capacity to find good uses for cash. Look at companies like Google and Yahoo: they throw excess cash around like crazy, rolling the dice to hit something great. (Even Google's solid, cool projects like the driverless car are highly speculative.) Everything Amazon does, by contrast, is very clearly focused on one clear goal: becoming the retailer of record. It is able, either by institutional constitution or the nature of its market, to make investments in itself that will clearly add to its bottom line, either one or five or ten years from now.
- tixocloud 13y ago
  Opportunities are in abundance but opportunities for Google, Amazon and Yahoo may not be the same opportunities for Apple. Sure, it might frustrate shareholders as it is their money. But when you pay for Apple stock, you pay for Apple's strategy and Apple's strategy right now hasn't been to invest their excess cash. In which case, I personally think that they should return some of it to shareholders, which they are to some degree.

nl 13y ago

Apple does not see opportunity at the moment which is why it's holding the huge amount of cash. Exactly - that's the OP's point. Amazon has the vision to invest its cash in building entire new lines of business, whereas Apple can't see any opportunities.

tixocloud 13y ago
But it's not Apple's game to play in the things that Amazon plays. Amazon has their own strategy and Apple has their own strategy. Building entire new lines of business is risky and Apple probably does not think that the risk is worth the reward at the end. There's also the question of whether Apple can do as well as Amazon at what it does.
hershel 13y ago
It's partly because is amazon is high margin business, so it view almost everything as an opportunity to raise revenue and 9maybe margins) , but apple is a high margin company, and those opportunists are harder to find.

scarmig 13y ago

That's just the thing: even if a company like Apple might be inclined to ignore short-sighted shareholders, nearly always they don't have the institutional capacity to find good uses for cash. Look at companies like Google and Yahoo: they throw excess cash around like crazy, rolling the dice to hit something great. (Even Google's solid, cool projects like the driverless car are highly speculative.) Everything Amazon does, by contrast, is very clearly focused on one clear goal: becoming the retailer of record. It is able, either by institutional constitution or the nature of its market, to make investments in itself that will clearly add to its bottom line, either one or five or ten years from now.

tixocloud 13y ago
Opportunities are in abundance but opportunities for Google, Amazon and Yahoo may not be the same opportunities for Apple. Sure, it might frustrate shareholders as it is their money. But when you pay for Apple stock, you pay for Apple's strategy and Apple's strategy right now hasn't been to invest their excess cash. In which case, I personally think that they should return some of it to shareholders, which they are to some degree.