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Is Apple Planning A Giant-Sized Acquisition (Or Maybe Two)?


Posted by Eric Savitz
In case you missed it, Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance on today’s conference call following the company’s September quarter results. Among other things, Jobs was asked about what Apple might do with its $51 billion in cash. And what he basically said is that the company wants to have the cash around to do some big acquisitions.

“We strongly believe that one or more very strategic opportunities may come along, that we can take, that we’re in a unique position to take advantage of because of our strong cash position,” he said on the call, and then he said it again. “So I think that we would like to continue to keep our powder dry because we do feel that there are one or more strategic opportunities in the future.”

Whoa! Apple, which does not generally make large acquisitions, seems to be telegraphing a new strategy: use the cash to buy something “strategic.”

Care to guess?