[jmreid]

Apple has about $76 billion in cash after the last quarter. Not sure where you got $28.4 billion from.

Also, I'm not sure why you say that Apple is unlikely to maintain it's advantage in the smartphone and tablet industry. I'd say they are very likely to maintain an advantage, especially when it comes to profits. No other manufacture has an entire ecosystem in place for it's customers quite like the way Apple does (digital stores, iCloud, Retail stores, etc).

[MrHobbes]

I understand why you may be confused, because this was pretty poorly reported recently and I was not completely specific in my post.

Some Miscellaneous References:

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:AAPL&fstype=ii

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=AAPL+Key+Statistics

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/07/19Apple-Reports-Thir...

Apple does not have 76 billion in cash. It has 76 billion in cash, cash-equivalents, and long-term marketable securities. There is a significant difference.

For clarification, please see here:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/258268-debunking-the-myths-o...

This post does not constitute investment advice.

[jmreid]

Thanks for the clarification. I've just never heard anyone be as specific about it as you, and I appreciate it. Almost everyone (non-financial sites and reports) considers it all "cash" and reports it as such.

[joshuamerrill]

Yes, the $76 billion includes $47.7 billion of long term investments, and possibly in there are the value of the supplier agreements that Apple is so famous for.

On the other hand... potato, po-tah-to?

While I'm acutely aware of the vast difference between $28 billion and $76 billion, can anyone name the largest acquisition Apple has ever completed?

More importantly, can anyone recall the amount?

Apple is one of the most acquisition-averse large companies I've ever seen. What they will do with $28 billion--let alone $76 billion--is beyond me.

[ellyagg]

I'm pretty sure MrHobbes was just waiting to jump on someone for that. Although Apple doesn't have $76 billion in "cash and cash equivalents", it's not as if those extra assets are suddenly rendered valueless because they're harder to convert to cash. As you surmise, they provide a lot of leverage.

[MrHobbes]

Hello ellyagg,

No, I was not waiting to jump on someone for that, and I would hope that my response was not agressive in tone. That really was not intentional, but I apologize to jmreid if that was the case.

I actually up-voted jmreid's post (before typing my response) because he raised an extremely important point.

If I may share something? I like to keep this in mind as I move around online. With the lack of faces and tone of voice to help, I find that it is helpful to remember: http://www.paulgraham.com/randomness.html

[ugh]

Those $28 billion are excluding long-term marketable securities, the $76 billion include them.