Rich company problems: Apple has stopped buying a company every month because of the economy

The world hasn’t recovered completely from the economic slump caused by the pandemic. The resulting issues affect everyone differently and wealthy people and corporations are better insulated from the economic downturn. For instance, well-to-do customers are still splurging on luxury goods from Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz, whereas McDonald’s and Walmart customers have curtailed spending. 

From one takeover every three to four weeks to just two major acquisitions in 2022

Apple keeps an eye on promising start-ups and past purchases have helped it launch popular features such as the Siri voice assistant and the Face ID biometric tech. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook revealed in February 2021 that the company had bought 100 companies in the prior six years, meaning more than one every month.

So, why has Apple cut back on purchases?

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple is not buying as many companies as before because it doesn’t have as much money as before. As of last quarter, it had $179 billion in cash. Apparently, the company has decided to use the cash for stock buybacks and dividends for now.

That’s not to say that Apple is closed to the idea and Tim Cook said in April that the company is “always looking.”

Apple is far from the only one curtailing spending in the face of the global economic slowdown. Google has also slowed down hiring and Samsung has scaled down smartphone production.