Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is reportedly on a business buying spree, snapping up between 20 and 25 companies in the last six months, according to a statement from CEO Tim Cook. That is a significant jump from last year, when the company made 18 acquisitions. Many of the acquisitions from the past six months haven’t been announced.
Cook explained the aggressive acquisition style, saying, “We acquire everything that we need that can fit and has a strategic purpose to it. And so we acquire a company on average, every two to three weeks.” Apple has long been one of the most cash-rich companies in the tech industry. As of its most recent earnings report, Apple has $225 billion in cash and securities on its balance sheet, giving it massive purchasing power.
According to Cook’s statement, most of the deals that Apple makes to buy companies are not made public. With Apple’s market cap at $952 billion, most of its purchases are deemed too small to be materially consequential. That means that the purchases and information about the buying process does not have to be disclosed.
While most of the transactions have not been detailed, some from the past six months have. Last November, it was reported that Apple had purchased Silk Labs, a startup that makes artificial-intelligence software for consumer devices. In December, Apple purchased Platoon, a startup that works with musicians to produce and distribute their work.
Apple reportedly purchased DataTiger, a UK digital-marketing startup, and PullString, a startup for creating voice apps, in February. In March, Apple bought Laserlike, a machine-learning startup, and an application-programming-interface-development startup called Stamplay. No details have been released about the rest of the deals.
