Apple + Intel = ...Intel?
Regular Gazette contributor (and Mac enthusiast) Brian has provided a link to yesterday's post by tech columnist Robert Cringely in which the writer opines that the Apple/Intel alliance will ultimately lead to Intel's outright acquisition of Apple, the dethroning of Microsoft, and the freeing up of Steve Jobs to make cool movies fulltime over at Pixar.
At this point in the game, I think it's entirely reasonable to appropriate the "Kinky Friedman for Governor of Texas" campaign slogan: "Why the Hell Not?" In a world that's becoming more bizarre by the moment, both Kinky and Intel might well achieve their goals.
From a purely financial perspective, an Intel acquisition is certainly doable. Apple's market cap is around $31B; if you assume a 20% premium for a takeover, that's still less than $40B. It's a hefty chunk of change, to be sure, but Intel's almost six times the size of Apple from a market cap perspective, has a very strong balance sheet and over $8B in cash (as of 12/31/2004). A cash plus stock deal like this happens practically every day in other industries. Now, whether the deal makes sense from a marketing or technical strategy is a whole 'nother question.
Technorati tags: Apple | Intel | Microsoft
That one is easy -- because Microsoft has shown no interest whatsoever in staying Intel's best customer. In fact, MS has intimated several times in the last couple of years that they would drop Intel like a hot rock as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
Posted by: Phelps at June 12, 2005 06:51 PMAbout the publisher
Random Abbye photos...
Reason #21 to wear shoes in West Texas
From my rooftop, I can see my own mortality
The USPS: We're now 27% more efficient at mangling your mail!
My Favorite Yard Work
Review: The Amazon Kindle
Personal Library Exploration Continues
Tech Support That's Out of This World
Flower and Butterfly
The Season's First Roundup
Recording History
Want a Healthier Mind? Fuggedaboutit!
Redefining a Bust
Thank you...
Farewell to Abbye
The Neighborhood:
West Texas Blogs:
[Midland unless otherwise indicated]
Other Texas Blogs:
The Business:
The Church:
The World:
Keeping in mind that I'm a Windows user and that I have never done any work on a Mac my question if I was an Intel investor would be...
Why would we, Intel, want to purchase Apple when Microsoft is our biggest customer?
Beyond the marketing and technical questions though are the legal questions.
If I'm the FTC I'm asking some serious anti-trust questions to Intel.
Posted by: Reagan at June 11, 2005 12:14 AM