What are the chances folks? How much would this upset the market and how keen are Google to get into the OS and music business? I have been thinking about this for a while, surely it is a logical step for Google? And they have asked to sell $4 billion worth of shares today :
Google plans to invest the proceeds in highly liquid, investment-grade securities, according to the SEC document.
But at some point Google will make a big acquisition, it is just a matter of who and when.
Comments
11 responses to “Google buying Apple?”
Interesting thought, Gavin. However, Google would need to be showing more interest in the Mac platform to make me suspicious that a move like this is in the offing. High profile Google apps like Picasa and Google Earth still aren’t available for Mac.
Also, Apple is as much a hardware company as it is a software company. Its aficionados are as attached to Apple’s machines as they are to its OS and apps. That’s not even taking the iPod into consideration. Would Google want to get into hardware?
Maybe the reason they are not showing much interest in the Mac as a platform just yet is because they have other intentions for Mac. How better for Google to get into hardware than acquire Apple – a company with the same clean lines and software as itself.
If Google had intentions to make the world a better place then how better than building machines on Apple’s model – it’s one to speculate on at least.
Don’t get me wrong, Gavin – it’s an interesting suggestion.
However, I’m not convinced that Google are going to go down the hardware route.
That said, most Mac aficionados thought Hell would freeze over before an Intel processor would appear in an Apple machine :o)
Apple on it’s own is worthless in the long term, you’d have to ensure you’d also get Steve Jobs. While I’m sure the board wouldn’t mind having Jobs in the CEO’s office the question would be if Jobs is willing to work for Google’s board?
I don’t think he would be willing, the last time he worked for a bunch of individuals he didn’t hand pick he was thrown out on his ear.
4bn wouldn’t even buy you apple’s turnover in one year. with apple’s current market cap of nearly 40bn, google would need to raise quite a few quid more before trekking on up to infinite loop.
google’s software intentions are server/network based, not client. they will move more into the distributed computing area that’s been predicted since the 80s, with individual users needing little or no software on their system safe a base os, tcp/ip and a browser, and the application software existing on a central network.
And Google’s market cap is almost twice that of Apple. I can see Google in a position to buy Apple should they want to, in the future – 3 billion in cash, revenue of 4.48 billion, quarterly revenue growth, year on year of 97% and gross Profit (ttm) of 1.8 billion.
Google have a history of application services and server based software, but who is to say what the the future intentions of Google are?
do any of those figures actually mean anything to you or are you simply demonstrating an ability to quote? the pe diff between the two companies, as well as the substantial revenue diff, suggests your ‘hunch’ is no more than wetting a finger and sticking it in the air. and that criticism’s before considering the sheer illogicality of the deal you’re proposing – apple’s core business is far removed from the world of advertising sales that google is making its money it. analysts and institutional investors would cry blue murder, the same way they would have in the 80s and 90s has ms expressed an interest in ibm. show the synergy of the deal and you might have a point, but all you’re doing is picking a big name. any idiot can do that. why not amazon and we could really have googlzon?
Gosh you get hot under the collar easily Fmk, it was you who quoted market cap not me – i was simply pointing out that Google has a market cap twice that of Apple, a stat you mentioned yourself. I am well aware of price earnings ratios, and many things stock related – just because I dont talk about finance on my blog doesnt mean i dont know a little about these things. I see your points – but you seem to forget that all i was doing was “wetting a finger and sticking it in the air”, something you constantly seem to have issues with.
Yes why not googlzon, as that nifty little video says. And who is to say what the market will like, they might hate that idea. I cant mind read Sergei and Larry, but I do like to fly kites.
Very interesting Gavin. Anyway i am here to tell you that u shuld reopen the posts for 0ct 2004 eminem vs everlast cos peeps are still writing and posting messages.
Remembering that Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt comes from two past unsuccessful battles with Microsoft in his position as CEO at both Sun Microsystems (with operating system Solaris) and Novell (with Netware application being somewhat of a replacement network desktop for Windows), the companies move into the operating systems market is inevitable. Their current position – striving for growth in new markets – suggesting it is going to be a manoeuvre which they make soon. The question of to Apple or not to Apple is somewhat more complex, but considering the perspective that it would effectively give Google access to the number one portable storage device (the iPod) – which has already expanded from music to photos and files – and an operating system respected for its ease-of-use, simplicity and power – not dissimilar to the respect gained by Google’s search products – makes this appear likely, too.
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