Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) certainly has a tough problem on its hands: what to do with all that cash. But spare your sympathy (if you have any). Investors and industry investors are all quick to make suggestions, with Carl Icahn and others arguing that Apple should buy itself through share repurchases, and others saying that the company should make some key acquisitions instead.
Marcus Wohlsen of Wired has some potential acquisition targets he thinks Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) could consider. While these are certainly some creative possibilities, most of them seem like dreams.
Apple could buy its next invention
One of the reasons investors have become worried about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is because of the lack of signs that any of the new products analysts have been talking about for years are going to see the light of day soon. However, Wohlsen suggests the company could just buy a company which has a great invention rather than making it.
The first company on his list is Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). This is a suggestion we’ve certainly heard before, but Tesla isn’t for sale and probably won’t be any time soon. Another car-related company he suggests that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) could buy is the ride-sharing startup Uber. Some have said that Uber could one day be using self-driving cars to provide its services, but we’re probably years away from that.
Apple could buy other tech companies
He also suggests that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) could buy Dropbox, which already turned down an acquisition offer from Apple, which then launched iCloud—its own competing service. Square could be an option because it might make sense if Apple is really getting into the payments business. In fact, this seems to me like the most likely candidate of all the companies he names.
Jawbone might be a possibility since it is a hardware company, but if Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is already making its own iWatch, the company might be less interested in this company’s Up fitness band. Of course it does have other offerings, like the Bluetooth earpieces it is probably best-known for.
He also suggests that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) might want to take a giant step toward high-definition video by acquiring GoPro, which is planning to go public at a valuation of $2.5 billion. Apple has certainly been lagging in this department, and the acquisition of GoPro would give it a much-needed boost.
Some rather odd suggestions for Apple
The last four companies on the author’s list are pretty strange. SpaceX might be of interest, but I would think a company which would be more interested in it is one of the mining companies. Now before you say I’m crazy, consider how they could benefit from launching missions to asteroids to mine minerals from them and then send them back to earth. We may not be too many more years before this could happen, and indeed SpaceX could find itself in some nice contracts with mining companies if it doesn’t become an acquisition target.
The final three on his list are FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) and the nation of Luxembourg. This last one in particular could be a tongue-in-cheek suggestion because yes, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) probably does have the cash to buy a whole country. And if any country would be of particular interest, it would be the technology center of Luxembourg.
