[cobookman]

Apple has enough cash on hand that they'll be able to make 0 profit for the next 50 years and still be around.

[tristanj]

Only if they stop giving it back to their shareholders. Since they started their buyback program in 2012 Apple has 'returned' over $222 billion to shareholders [0]. Presently they are issuing debt to finance the buybacks & dividends. If they are not careful they may end up like IBM.

[0] https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/05/apple-5b-bond-sale-fund...

[heartbreak]

That debt is borrowed against offshore holdings that they plan to repatriate when the tax conditions are more favorable.

[romeoEtJoliet]

It's true that Apple has mountains of cash, but in all likelihood, a failing Apple-sized tech giant would end up acquired by an adjacent company (see Motorola or Yahoo or Sun Microsystems ) before they ran out of money.

[ksk]

Not really. If they decide to screw over the shareholders like that, they won't take it lying down. Cook will be out ASAP.

[cobookman]

Fair enough.