Apple acquires a $16 billion stake in... Apple!

24. PAPINYC (banned) (Posts: 2315; Member since: 30 Jul 2011)

Yeah but, too bad it's too little too late as Apple is slowly dying thanks to Samsung.
Personally, I think Apple should try using an aftermarket charger on .... itself - instead of buying itself!

26. MobileCaseReview (Posts: 242; Member since: 10 Feb 2012)

Why is it too late? They have increased profit margins through the year. Business 101 says, that's not a company folding by any means.

27. jdoee100 (Posts: 334; Member since: 04 Jun 2013)

Their profit margins are shrinking. And, with cheaper version of iphones coming out, it's going to shrink even further.

33. MobileCaseReview (Posts: 242; Member since: 10 Feb 2012)

Everyone's profit margins are shrinking including Samsung. But speaking on 2013 annual fiscal reports, according to WSJ, Apple has seen an increase in profit revenue throughout the year. But the fact is, most major companies are losing profits. Even Samsung missed their expectations by nearly 10%. That doesn't mean they're "dying". Also, explain to me how they're profit margins are going to shrink further? I would like to know your take on that.

13. raunak (Posts: 507; Member since: 12 Oct 2011)

Thank you, Sherlock. We had no idea how to multiply.

9. darkkjedii (Posts: 24915; Member since: 05 Feb 2011)

Why do you think they did that?

10. PapaSmurf (Posts: 10457; Member since: 14 May 2012)

Apple is a business. They're going to do anything that will help them in the long run. I'm really surprised they bought back 36 million shares because $16 billion dollars seems like a definite fortune to the average person but small change to Apple. Good move on their part.

22. darkkjedii (Posts: 24915; Member since: 05 Feb 2011)

Yeah I agree, business is business.

7. HeWhoDoesNothing (Posts: 158; Member since: 15 Jul 2013)

I can't believe I asked this question without reading yours lol. I'm wondering the same.

15. grahaman27 (Posts: 361; Member since: 05 Apr 2013)

It means apple believes in itself, and they want everyone to believe in them too. and the "We continue to generate cash in excess of our needs to operate the business, " part means they want you to think they are doing better than ever.

17. zennacko (Posts: 237; Member since: 16 Jun 2013)

Well, buying back your own company from others means you have more control of it when the good times come. That said, if they bought their shares back for $444.44 each, in a batch of 16 million, when this years iDevices come around the shelves the shares will (probably) get a 50%+ rise, and if Apple decides to burn (part of) them down on the stock market again, profit!

However, buying a lot of shares from your own company has some setbacks, as a matter of fact the shares are now down to $438 (because the shareholders get suspicious and decide to sell theirs as fast as they can. thus lowering the company's value) but that's no major concern, by August they should rise to $600~700 mark.

18. rantao333 (Posts: 322; Member since: 21 May 2013)

A & B each has 50% share,and the each of their share value is $500. now they start a business and earn $1000. instead of share the profit among them, A decided to keep it for a while.

after a while, share price drop to $400, A offer B to purchased his 50% share @ value of $400. and B accepted. So A take out $400 from the profit and gave it to B. now the profit left 600.

In the end, A has the 100% of share while still keeping $600 of profit in his hand. B has 0% share and $400.

23. Pdubb (Posts: 248; Member since: 08 Aug 2011)

You do know that Apple is a long way from an "all time low" in stock price. This plain and simple a way for Apple to increase their stock position. They are showing confidence in the company.

16. Chris.P (Posts: 567; Member since: 27 Jun 2013)

I am aware of that, raunak, and I wasn't trying to imply different. It was for the sake of perspective ;)

19. raunak (Posts: 507; Member since: 12 Oct 2011)

Got it, thanks.

25. PAPINYC (banned) (Posts: 2315; Member since: 30 Jul 2011)

In that case, you could have used Microsoft as the example and your "perspective" would have been much more effective??!!

30. muhsen (Posts: 281; Member since: 07 Jun 2012)

do u know that by ur statement u r like saying that because nokia's Market capital is 15.17 billion dollars (shares multiplied by the price of shares) , apple can grab it for 16 billion dollars and still have some money ????http://www.google.com/finance?cid=657729
so since when is the price of company equal to its market capital ???? i don't want to be aggressive or offensive, but tell this to someone with some basic economics or business background, he would just laugh out pretty much loud, the price of a company involves a lot more than that and market capital has nothing to do with its price....a company like nokia if its going to be sold will be priced by no less than 40 billion dollars (the patents portfolio is big enough to drive the price higher)
so this comparison is pretty awkward ,pointless, points to ur ignorance about business models and seems to be for sake of some company Vs company comments.
next time , if u want to show some comparisons, make sure to cover all the basic info and basics of these comparisons, otherwise just stick to the info in the source.

32. muhsen (Posts: 281; Member since: 07 Jun 2012)

u maybe mixed up between buying some shares in a company and buying a whole company as with ur context u r implying they r the same...while actually they r not

36. Chris.P (Posts: 567; Member since: 27 Jun 2013)

muhsen, I am not mixing anything up :)... you talk about the context a lot, don't disregard it then?

20. Napalm_3nema (Posts: 2236; Member since: 14 Jun 2013)

The fact is, they are a publicly traded company, therefore they can be bought, whether the Board and CEO want it, or not. A good enough offer would have to be heard, and if rejected, a company could just start buying from shareholders until they acquired a controlling interest.

28. Googler (Posts: 813; Member since: 10 Jun 2013)

Who maintains the controlling stock? If Nokia has the biggest percentage, or more than 50%, your point is true but won't happen unless Nokia wants to be sold. I honestly don't know how much of their own stock they own but they'd had have been insane to not cover that base properly.