Can someone more business savvy explain what that means?
You maintain a cash reserve so that, if there is a (hopefully) short-term market correction, you're not stuck with having to sell assets in a dip to meet payroll, etc. Not really much different from people in that regard although obviously at a different scale.
Because the company would have gone bankrupt in the late 90s had Microsoft not given them a loan (and it's likely the only reason MS did so was because they were facing monopoly scrutiny). Jobs swore that would never happen again and made sure everyone on his executive staff and board of directors was on the same page.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-steve-jobs-took-apple-fr...
It's debt to cash-in hand ratio. Apple currently, as of March 2021, had US$120.2B of debt [1]. So, if they have $120.2B of cash, then it neutralizes their balance sheet. And, that's what the net cash neutral position is.
[1] - https://simplywall.st/stocks/us/tech/nasdaq-aapl/apple/news/...
Edit - I missed adding liabilities. But, it will complicate the above terminology, a bit more. Although, I hope you got the idea.
No dividends or stock buybacks to reduce cash, but no accumulating it either.
one platform for all their products. (one ring to rule them all) how much did Apple saved by going with their own in-house designed chip?
https://www.q4inc.com/products/investor-relations-websites/d...
Why do you think they should they make it themselves?
Share buybacks technically accomplish the same; the proportional increase in shareholder value should be the same. However, investors who do not want to recognize income that year do not have to; whereas investors who need the dividend income can sell a small number of appreciated shares.
Also, many people are harmed by this tax treatment because a couple making 80k a year pay no tax on the dividend capital gains?
I am just saying dividends v share buybacks are not the same and have other effects.
Most discussions and news sites report shortage issues but I wonder if there is an underlying deeper reason.
What? Where did you get that information from? Their total units of sale is definitely not declining. And market share remains steady according to this: https://www.statista.com/statistics/216459/global-market-sha....
Smartphones hit a saturation point a while back. At this point the only ways for Apple to grow marketshare are to a) lure away current Android customers, or b) convince first-time smartphone purchasers to go with iPhones at a higher rate.
Neither of those things are trivial, and not being able to do so for a little while should not be taken as an indication that something is wrong.
Shouldn't we question whetever comes out of the shareholder's meeting? The classic is 2017 BTC boom that deluded NVidia's shareholders, no one questioned it and then in 2018, Jensen speaks up in the shareholders mtg that we're now in a Bitcoin hangover. Obviously, they've accelerated since then, but the point remains.
It's important to play a devils advocate even if you're wrong. No one in this thread seems to be doing that.
I really have no horse in this race, just putting out contrarian views from the herd.
So I guess those results are a disappointment.
This is to say, Apple “needs” a new major product. Car is a moonshot but I personally think they can easily tackle the gaming space. They have all the right pieces to create $500B market cap.
Sony had their best year ever for Playstation sales in 2020, which translated to $20B of revenue.
