Right On, Don!
Gil Amelio is *NOT* stupid. If he would rather pay $400 million for NeXT than $300 million for Be, IMHO the reasons would have to be (and Twister can let me know why *he* thinks Amelio did this) :
Advanced & Proven O/S,
Ease of Transition from Existing O/S,
Strategic & Tactical Advantages for Alliances
Net (ie: after tax, discounted cash flow) Cost.
He might give up one of these for more of another, but he didn't just throw the $$$ away. I think when Amelio seriously looked at NeXT and compared it to the deal they had *almost done* with BE, they were suprised to see what a diamond in the rough NeXT is. The current management of AAPL has sober second thoughts - and this is good!
IMHO, the big price tag will be justified by the sum of (1) tax losses (2) profitability of existing contracts and (3) value of WebObjects technology. Be purchase only would get AAPL an unfinished & untested O/S.
Also interesting to consider that they gave $400 million cash rather than $300 million shares; which may indicate that they believe shares are too valuable to be given away at todays prices. I would guess that Jobs would have taken *some* shares if offered.
I was kind of hoping for a big drop today, after the brutal negative spin the WSJ put on the deal, so I could increase my position. Obviously there are other buyers like me out there to offset the "twisters" of the world.
Good Luck to All --- David |
