Can $51 Billion Buy 500 Million Friends?
Photo by Dean Johnson. Some rights reserved.
In the interest of propagating rumors: Peter Kafka of All Things Digital floated a theory that Apple, Inc. might be in the market to acquire Facebook. This hypothesis arose after CEO Steve Jobs made an appearance at Apple’s earnings call on October 18th. In response to questions about whether the company would put its money into stock buybacks or dividends, Jobs said that they “strongly believe that one or more very strategic opportunities may come along that we’re in unique opportunity to take advantage of because of our cash.”
And we’re not talking petty cash: Apple purportedly has a cool $51 billion lying around. Though there has arisen quite a tizzy—equal parts media blogger and M&A guys—Kafka cautions that Jobs is known to be a loose cannon and that, besides, the CEO hasn’t actually made any claims. But that hasn’t stopped the media storm around the fact that Facebook Czar Mark Zuckerberg went to Jobs’ house for dinner a few weeks back.
