AUGUST 24, 2011, 7:35 PM
With Resignation of Jobs, Will Apple Warm to Deals?
By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED
Jim Wilson/The New York TimesSteven P. Jobs
As Steven P. Jobs steps down as Apple Inc.’s chief executive, the iPhone maker will lose the leader who rescued it from near-death and built it into a technological colossus.
But among Mr. Jobs’s many roles — visionary force behind the iPod, iPhone and iPad; brilliant but ruthlessly efficient manager — one he did not occupy was deal-maker.
Since his return in 1997, following Apple’s purchase of NeXT Inc., the tech company has purchased just 18 companies, according to data from Capital IQ. His biggest-ever deal wasn’t even at Apple; it was orchestrating Pixar’s $7.4 billion sale to the Walt Disney Company, making him the biggest individal shareholder of the media giant.
Apple’s most notable deals in recent years, including the chip makers PA Semi and Intrinsity, have been relatively small. Its purchase of the mobile ad company Quattro Wireless was said to be worth about $300 million.
More recently, Apple was part of the group that successfully bid $4.5 billion for Nortel Network’s patent of portfolios. The company is said to be interested in a number of other targets, including the online video company Hulu and the patent portfolio of Interdigital.
And it has the wherewithal to strike a big deal if it wanted to: With a $76.1 billion war chest as of late June, some have noted that Apple had enough financial firepower to buy Bank of America.
But Apple’s new chief executive, Timothy Cook, has already had a hand in the company’s deal strategy, and all signs indicate that he is unlikely to change course.
Mr. Jobs, in any case, will remain chairman. His resignation was announced after the close of the stock market. In after-hours trading, shares of Apple fell as much as 7 percent.
| 