4 ms·
setting aside the streaming service and the profitable hardware, bear in mind the context if you evaluate the deal purely as a acquihire. apple has about $160B
by panabee 12y ago
setting aside the streaming service and the profitable hardware, bear in mind the context if you evaluate the deal purely as a acquihire. apple has about $160B in cash [1]. $3B for an acquihire is comparable to zynga in 2013 [2] purchasing some startup for $30M.
[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/global-cash-reserves-companies-nations-2014-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/global-cash-reserves-companie...
[2] http://seekingalpha.com/article/1919501-zynga-cash-still-piled-high http://seekingalpha.com/article/1919501-zynga-cash-still-pil...
- notahacker 12y agoAcquihires are by definition evaluated on the perceived market value of the team, which is very rarely proportional to the cash reserves of the buyer. The existence of wealthy suitors like AAPL might shift market values (for any prospective buyer) for tech talent upwards, but no matter how much cash they have in the bank, AAPL can certainly acquihire top talent in the $30m range if that talent is showcasing their skills at unprofitable startups rather than highly profitable brands, in much the same way as they have no need to offer employees salaries' two orders of magnitude more than comparable level employees at companies with a mere $1.6M in the bank. It would have to be seriously impressive talent to be worth $1.6Bn when you compare it with what Apple paid for NeXT...