Perhaps we should all prepare to see more innovative gadgets and new technologies coming out in our time. Lucky are the new generations, they will experience a more advanced technologies and sophisticated gadgets than what we have right now.
They will invest it without any risks; in case something bad happens, they have plenty of resources to cover the possible damages. I don't really know how a company that brought itself to this stage of power and fame could really mess up things, so I'd say they will really just put it aside and wait a founded opportunity to spend.
I am hoping they go crazy on stock buybacks rather than dividends. They are in a similar situation as Microsoft back in 1995 in that there is just very little they can do to move the dial as far as revenues. They can just keep turning out ******s+1, but at some point they are going to have trouble with year-over-years.
Well, they could also follow Google into the wireless market but I it's probably getting overcrowded now. There's a ton of money in it but as competition grows, the profits will drop.
The problem is the already high share price. In general I do like buybacks but they have to be smart ones. Not like PG who are buying back with billions each year and the # of outstanding shares stays the same. Not like Nokia who bought their own share back at above 50e/share 15 years ago. Like I said I do agree with buybacks to a certain extent but it has to have a clear effect in # of outstanding shares and/or the current price has to be undervalued.
Businesses can't ever have *too much* money though. They can raise their employee wages, invest in stocks, new tech (they don't yet have any big stake in virtual reality as far as I know), OR ya know, line the pockets of Senators to pass laws in their favor.
They kind of have to do something with it because it's really not being used efficiently sitting on the balance sheet, offshore or not. And ultimately they will continue to pile up cash. There's nothing wrong with having a one-off special dividend to help get rid of some of it. Buybacks at current levels aren't going to happen - the company can't honestly think the share price is significantly undervalued. And they don't strike me as the type of company to splash out on a big acquisition. So I guess we've got to hope for crazy levels of innovation.
I would not necessarily say that it is overcrowded, but there is definitely competition there. There is a cult following that surrounds Apple, so I'm sure that they would be fine.
The ****** has just gone through relative changes over the course of its' time. But then again, if it ain't broke, why would they fix it?