Tim Cook says Apple won’t rule out acquiring large companies, but its focus is on IP and talent

During Apple’s fiscal Q2 2022 earnings calls, company CEO Tim Cook was asked about Apple’s strategy for acquiring other companies. According to Cook, Apple is not exactly concerned with acquiring other large companies but, rather, with incorporating new talent.

The question was specifically about why Apple doesn’t acquire big companies in the health, content, or fitness segment (in references to Peloton and Netflix). The questioner noted that Apple has billions of dollars on hand, which makes these acquisitions entirely possible.

Although Tim Cook said that Apple doesn’t rule out acquiring large companies, he mentioned that Apple’s focus is on acquiring companies in search of IP and talent – which is something Apple also finds in smaller companies and startups.

Cook even joked about not discussing the list of potential companies to be acquired by Apple on his phone.

We are always looking at companies to buy. We acquire a lot of smaller companies, and we’ll continue to do that for IP and to incorporate talent. We don’t discount something larger if the opportunity presents itself. I’m not going to go through my list with you on this call, but we’re always looking.

Multiple market analysts have already said they are in favor of Apple acquiring the fitness company Peloton, which would help in the development of the Apple Watch and Apple Fitness+. Some analysts also believe that Apple should have bought Netflix instead of working on Apple TV+ from scratch.

Apple this quarter reported a revenue of $97.3 billion, with a profit of $25 billion and earnings-per-share of $1.52. While the iPhone segment remains the most important for Apple, the services category was the fastest growing compared to last year with $19.82 billion in revenue.

Read also:

• Apple beats estimates with record Q2 earnings: $97.3 billion revenue
• Apple services subscribers grow 25% to new high of 825 million
• Tim Cook: Record number of iPhone upgrades in Q2, ‘double digit’ growth in Android converts
• Tim Cook says supply chain constraints are easing, despite ‘significant’ impact on iPad sales