Apple and new type of business

[zuben el genub]

Carl Icahn is after Apple again. He just got through making a mess with Dell, although Michael Dell did manage to take the company private.

Not just talking about Apple/Android phone/tablet rivalry, what would happen to all cell phone business if Icahn forces what he wants?

Icahn turns up heat on Apple, hints at proxy fight over $150B buyback - Computerworld

Here's a definition of a corporate raider:
Corporate Raider Definition | Investopedia

What's to stop a raider from going after all social sites or anything publicly traded? It could be moral issues rather than money.

A rather interesting article about what could happen:
Bruce Schneier On The Feudal Internet And How To Fight It | Techdirt

 

[SiempreTuna]

Apparently, he wants Apple to "borrow billions to fund the buyback" rather than pay tax repatriating the cash hoarde they have abroad

He must have shares in some banks, too

 

[Codegerm]

Carl Icahn is one of the villains of the corporate world. I did like that Michael Dell fought him.

 

[SiempreTuna]

Carl Icahn is one of the villains of the corporate world

Clearly!

He's basically trying to force Apple to turn a big (if grossly under utilised) asset into a massive on-going liability simply in order to make a one-off profit on his < 1% share of the company :hmmmm2:

Of course it would be a great, one time win for him, but it would be totally insane for the long term success of the company :stupid:

Short termism at it's worst

 

[zuben el genub]

What then happens to Apple's products? Will they have to really bastardize them to make a profit? Whether you like Apple or not, the competition is good as innovation of any kind keeps Google and MS on their collective toes and better for our choices.

 

[SiempreTuna]

Not sure how much affect it would have on Apple 'innovation': while their spending on product development has doubled since Job's demise, it's still a relatively modest 2.6% of revenue.

Samsung's product development spending, in contrast is 5.7% or revenue - i.e. almost double Apple's proportion. Of course, they do have a much broader range of products, many of which have much lower sales to development cost.

 

[zuben el genub]

I've been seeing articles that Apple is getting stagnant. I hope they aren't just to keep everyone else on their toes.

But when a corporate raider states:
Carl Icahn says he'd 'never' push Apple to buy Nuance, only wants increased share buyback

I'd be watching my backside.

Former trader sentenced to 30 months in prison for fraudulent $1B AAPL purchase