Tech Broiler

Jason Perlow and Scott Raymond

How Apple should spend its $50 billion in cash

By | October 22, 2010, 11:03am PDT

Summary: Apple, with its stock trading at around $300 a share and swimming in over $50B in cash, now needs to figure out how to spend its money. I’ve got a few suggestions.

Apple, with its stock trading at around $300 a share and swimming in over $50B in cash, now needs to figure out how to spend its money. I’ve got a few suggestions.

Times are indeed very good for the turtlenecked ones in Cupertino.

As I write this, AAPL is now trading at over $308.00 a share. For the 4th quarter, the company has posted record revenue of over $20 Billion from its sales of the iPhone, iPod, and the iPad, and Mac sales continue to grow and expand into new markets. Apple now has a market capitalization of over $280 Billion and has amassed a huge cash war chest exceeding 50 Billion Dollars.

Yes, say that again, but with a Doctor Evil voice. FIFTY BILLION DOLLARS! Muhahahahahahahah!

Apple could just sit on all that cash, but the logical thing to do with it would be to make some strategic purchases or expand its infrastructure in order to maintain that growth. I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I’ve come up with five suggestions. And no, “Sharks with frickin’ lasers” did not make the list. So without further ado…

Page 2: [Cupertino, we have liftoff...]  »

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Jason Perlow, Sr. Technology Editor at ZDNet, is a technologist with over two decades of experience integrating large heterogeneous multi-vendor computing environments in Fortune 500 companies.

Disclosure

Jason Perlow

My Full-Time Employer is IBM. I write as a freelancer for ZDNet.

Disclaimer: The postings and opinions on this blog are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

I own no investments or direct financial instruments in the companies I write about.

Biography

Jason Perlow

Jason Perlow, Sr. Technology Editor at ZDNet is a technologist with over two decades of experience with integrating large heterogeneous multi-vendor computing environments in Fortune 500 companies. A long-time computer enthusiast starting the age of 13 with his first Apple ][ personal computer, he began his freelance writing career starting at ZD Sm@rt Reseller in 1996 and has since authored numerous guest columns for ZDNet Enterprise and Ziff-Davis Internet. Jason was previously Senior Technology Editor for Linux Magazine, where he wrote about Open Source issues from 1999 to 2008.

In his spare time, Jason is an avid amateur chef and food writer, where his work reviewing New Jersey restaurants has appeared in The New York Times. He is also the founder of the popular food web site eGullet and blogs about restaurants and cooking at OffTheBroiler.com.

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RE: How Apple should spend its $50 billion in cash
JACOBSONR 14th Oct
Good day to confirm this comment I would appreciate T h e b e s t o f Z D N e t d e l i v e r e d your website very nice to everyone Yes, Oracle is the only one with shared-disk architecture, but that is there advantage. It means you can add or remove nodes and the database lives on. In a shared nothing architecture, if you lose a node, you lose the system. I'm sure Oracle appreciates EMC highlighting their advantage.I also desire to signal in your RSS feeds. Thank you as soon as once again and maintain up the great operate Awesome post! Thank you very much || thanks for nice content this is really benefit to me.
...is pay me a big freaking dividend. I wouldn't mind a few bucks to reinvest.

I also like the ARM idea. Yes, those cute little Euro market watchers would probably get all tangled up in their croissants, but controlling ARM could throw a time-to-market wrench into competitor's plans.
... to own a business with less than 40% gross margin.
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Obama and Bernanke are hellbent on trashing Dollar to zero so don't be the last fool having a load of it stuck in your hand.
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Densirs, isn't it funny
Richard Flude Updated - 24th Oct 2010
Jason writes :

"amassed a huge cash war chest exceeding 50 Billion Dollars."

This "huge" amount is less than the US is printing each month ( on top of their borrowings). Apple, like other savers including myself, have to look to spend the money somewhere. The resulting inflation will see the government stealing even more of our hard earned. Makes me sick.
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@denisrs hello my name is miss emilian here is my email: (emilian.oromo@yahoo.com) pls contact me and i will tell you more about me and send you my pictoru thanks from emilian
  • Flagged
@alsw: but, again, Jobs sold it off during recent years.
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Contributr
@denisrs Jobs hated the project that created the ARM, the Newton. Funny how years later, it's now a strategic part of their product designs.
@jperlow: I mean we all know the history. Jobs loved Lisa, but eventually agreed to basically drop it (it sold formally, but he did not care).

He also obviously considered Power Mac Cube from 2000 to be work of art (in ergonomics and design), but he was quick to drop it.

Newton was not really selling well by 1998 and Jobs decided that this business was not worth the effort at the time. He also got rid of printers (LaserWriters and StyleWriters), videocameras and many more stuff then.

And he kept using much of technology from non-Jobs Apple -- like PowerPC, QuickTime, etc.

So no, he did not have to feel hate or jealousy to kill Newton back in 1998.
@jperlow I think you're wrong. The Newton did not create the ARM. It was designed by a British company (Acorn) as a successor to their use of the 6502 processor in their BBC Micros. It was then used in their Archimedes computers. Apple came in later as an investor when they divulged the processor division for the ACORN RISC MACHINE.
@romromk: back in 1987 Apple started Newton project. They saw a **desktop** CPU from Acorn and said they need a **mobile** version of it for hand-held, energy-optimized devices. So Apple became initiator and co-owner of the whole ARM line (little to do with Acorn's desktop RISC processors except for mostly the same command set) which changed the history forever.

The same was with PowerPC: Apple needed **desktop** CPU to replace the aging Motorola CISC architecture. Apple saw **high-end server** Power CPUs from IBM. So Apple, IBM and Motorola got their engineers together and came up with PowerPC, which since changed the history forever, too (sold hundreds of millions of units in all kinds of devices).
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RE: How Apple should spend its $50 billion in cash
romromk Updated - 23rd Oct 2010
@denisrs And here's me thinking that the internal processor design team at Acorn had already developed a lower power consumption (mobile) version of the chip and formed ARM with apple and VLSI technologies with Apple being the first customer of an enhanced version of this chip ARM 610....which is a different design but nevertheless, a commissioned one. Apple did not create ARM. They commissioned a chip for their purposes in much the same way as manufacturers do today. They had an investment in ARM Ltd along with Acorn and VLSI when it was created - that's all.
@romromk: ... until Apple came and said they need a mobile CPU. Acorn did not have it (by the way, even aside of factual side of it, you might guess it through the simple reasoning that if Acorn already had ARM mobile chip, then they would not need to have anyone else's money, would not need to give up major share of its own profits); they only ever did desktop CPUs.

Even though desktop CPUs had similar command set, it is totally different thing in terms of mid/low level design, comparing to mobile CPUs.
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@alsw

Well, since the cash reserves are priced into the share price, why don't you give yourself a dividend by selling some of your shares?
@alsw You fool..... ARM isn't even up for a hostle take over... let alone CrApple having a chance to buy what they sold in a Fire Sale when they were hard up in the 90's!

Should pay their outstanding debts off, but the interest is so low on them, that too would be a mistake. None of you hard core CrAppleholics realize just how overvalued CrApple is. Their net assets don't amount to a hill of beans minus debt. So Market Cap only reflects the overhyped value investors wish they could get in an attempt to make a fast buck off other lame investors!
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RE: How Apple should spend its $50 billion in cash
Jkirk3279 Updated - 24th Oct 2010
@i2fun@...

"Their net assets don't amount to a hill of beans minus debt."

Apple doesn't HAVE any debt, you buffoon. Seriously, you should spend some time researching before posting.

Edit

Next time, try finding data that isn't a year old !

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=AAPL

"Balance Sheet
Total Cash (mrq): 25.62B
Total Cash Per Share (mrq): 28.04
Total Debt (mrq): 0.00
Total Debt/Equity (mrq): N/A
Current Ratio (mrq): 2.31
Book Value Per Share (mrq): 47.19"

This delusion of yours is very odd.
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haha.... You should do the research fool!
i2fun@... Updated - 24th Oct 2010
@Jkirk3279 Every company has debt..... you doofus!!!! ....even on wiki alone that's easy to see (even though it's old, they still have some debt as in paying the bills just like we all do. Even CrApple are smart enough to leverage at least some debt for tax benefits. Why do you think few people pay off a fixed low interest loans on there house? "Debt to Equity Ratio" is found in their monthly financials report fool. But here it is compared to Microsoft. Granted it's lower than Microsoft's:
http://ycharts.com/search?q=AAPL,%20MSFT&c=debt_equity_ratio

But still it doesn't look like there's any zeros there for CrApple! So you should do some real research before putting your foot in your mouth!!!

http://ycharts.com/search?q=AAPL,%20MSFT&c=assets

Pardon me, but soft assets are simply promises of future value. This is CrApple's hard assets value and if you compare it to their Market Cap which is not based on true corporate asset value you have a company that is vastly over valued with it's stock price. That promise can fall through the bottom if their parts suppliers shut them down, to nothing overnight! Samsung and LG are already squeezing CrApple's parts supplies for iPad. Why do you think investors were upset with their production of iPads being 900,000 less than projected? haha..... (hint they are both Korean and vowed to compete with CrApple in co-operation together recently. Don't expect iPad's to be anymore plentiful in the future because of this!

Note: If you want to see a balanced company today, you have to go to Asia. Samsung Electronics hard asset equity totals near match their their Market Cap..... fool! No American company can boast that with everything outsourced today!
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@i2fun@... Thanks for providing the "drooling retard" portion of our show. If Apple users/supporters are the brainwashed zealots they are made out to be, why is it that the Apple detractors are the one that show the signs of obsession and psychosis? No matter how many times Apple bests itself, bests it's competitors and rewards it's supporters faith in Apple, there remains to this day a group for which no amount of Apple success means Apple is a successful company. So guess who is actually a zealot? Guess whose world-view is distorted by a fantasy?
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@i2fun@... Go back to your corner and be quiet, the adults are talking.
With ideas like yours Jason, that is why you are broke and Apple is rich... Ain't got a single bit of business in you.
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@minardi
Because you totally have access to information indicating that Jason Perlow is actually broke... [/sarcasm]
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Contributr
@guardianmega Dude after I remodel this bathroom, I WILL be totally broke. LOL.
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@guardianmega

Of course he's broke. The man can't even afford two bits for a shave. grin
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Keeping competitors at ARM's length ...
johnfenjackson@... Updated - 22nd Oct 2010
We're brainstormin' - right?

1. Buy ARM.

2. Buy ADOBE. The deal with Microsoft is that Office will work just as well on the MAC or else ADOBE MASTER COLLECTION CS7 is gonna suck big time on PC's. Announce intention to terminate FLASH devlopment from the point of HTML 5 suitability.

3. Buy CITRIX, DROBO (so DATA ROBOTICS). Attack the enterprise via the SMB market, starting with storage products and virtualisation (think OSX on what used to be a WINDOWS PC). License and complete development of ZFS: the aim is to run ZFS servers on commodity or Apple hardware. (Enterprise storage prices make Apple prices look like loose change.) Adopt Infiniband and/or Lightpeak for monumentally fast SMB usage to support virtualisation to Apple servers.

If M$ buy 2. and 3. works then its time to tackle big enterprise.
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Contributr
RE: How Apple should spend its $50 billion in cash
jperlow Updated - 22nd Oct 2010
@johnfenjackson Microsoft should have bought CTXS a long time ago. Adobe, yes, I could see that being something they should do, but its a HUGE chunk of cash at current capitalization. Would have to be leveraged with a lot of banks involved, even Apple couldn't do it easily.

EDIT: Nevermind, I see it's at $14.5B. I thought it was closer to 30.
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ADOBE assets and equity only $12BN?
johnfenjackson@... 22nd Oct 2010
Maybe I read the wrong figure.

I've even got the an enterprise marketing jingle ...
... "there's a XENAPP for that".

Sounds like a winner to me wink
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@jperlow

Not only could Apple write a check to pick up Adobe, they also have enough cash to weather the FCC investigation that would follow.

I think that's what the cash hoard is for.

Buy Adobe, and wait for M$ to file a protest with the FCC.

The FCC investigation might send a shockwave through the Stock Market. APPL's share price would plummet.

Apple buys back $20 Billion of their own stock, the price stabilizes, panic over in thirty minutes.

Leaving Apple with stock to re-issue; and also owning Adobe, a bargaining chip M$ can't match.

Then Apple continues to sell CS5 at regular price to Windows users and bundle CS5 with their Pro lines for $299.

The next version of Apple PhotoShop CS6 leans heavily on Canvas and HTML5 while Flash heads for the sunset.
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You really think HTML5 can do everything flash can?
Michael Alan Goff 22nd Oct 2010
Is this what you're saying?
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@goff256

In about a year, yes. At this second... HTML5 lacks the expertise in selling ads for crap.
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HTML5 will never replace Flash for good
Michael Alan Goff 24th Oct 2010
I hate to break your delusion, but there is something that prevents it from happening. Browsers. Microsoft will implement it differently than Firefox, Opera, Chrome. Each of them will add their own quirks. Flash, however, works with any browser.
My guess is that Apple?s next big thing will have something to do with their server farms. The possibilities include,
Some kind of Mail/Documents capabilities, MobileMe lite free for limited storage and paid for premium/business users.
Streaming music service delivered to iTunes users on all kinds of devices.
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@MG537 I doubt it Apples server products are a joke.
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@zaphod778 You are an idiot.
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@zaphod778 Idiot.
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... a Charitable Foundation to help the world. Such an approach did wonders for Bill Gates' image and the world is a whole lot better thanks to Bill and and Melinda Gates. Does Steve have the character to do that, or does Steve still have something to prove!
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@mwagner@... Doubt all investors would take too kindly to Apple spending THEIR money like that...
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In what ways is the world better?
frgough 22nd Oct 2010
Malaria still kills millions a year. War and genocide still rages through Africa. Economic poverty is still rampant in the third world.

You want to know why? Because throwing money around to make yourself feel good isn't the answer to the world's problem. The answer lies in capitalism, freedom, and the judeo-christian moral code. All of which are currently being vigorously fought AGAINST by people like Gates and his foundation. Look for human misery and poverty to increase in coming years. Bet on it.
@frgough
After all huge corporations have way to much influence on out government officials. So what does a business want to make more money period end of story. To a degree it is a good thing but like the Greeks said so long ago "All things in moderation". Too much greed is just as deadly to a society as to little incentive to work.. Perhaps more so. So with American corporations becoming more international and feeling global they care less and less about our nation. With out siders who profit off of or jobs being sent to their shores via out sourcing placing money into our elections and when you have a host of people in this country voting against their own best interests to aid those who do NOT need their help....Well you have a perfect storm. As for judea-christian.. Ha! I'm more christian than the vast majority of christians in this nation for by far I am more Christ like and I'm a freaking PAGAN! Before you remove the sliver in another mans eye be sure to remove the log from yours.

Pagan jim
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@frgough
Where to begin....

First - every time that industry has been free to govern themselves after regulations diminished catastrophe struck. See Great Depression, Savings and Loans, and Banker Bailout. There is a reason why agencies such as the SEC, etc. exist and it is to protect investors from fraudulent activity. Also, if you read Adam Smith at all and not just spew talking points, you would know that he was anti-megaconglomerate.

As for the religious comment. The Judeo-Christian moral code? The one that massacres millions of people every year in the name of some mythical being? I think not.
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@ Hoaxoner
Michael Alan Goff 22nd Oct 2010
You don't seem to know anything about history -or- religion.
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Is that you answer to Mr. Job's greed?
Mister Spock 22nd Oct 2010
That Mr. Gates' philanthropy is only for his own benefit?
Is that what you humans tell yourself so as to sleep better at night?
At least Mr. Gates (and others) are using their money in an attempt to ease the suffering of others in the world, while Mr. Jobs (it has been implied) may have attempted to use his money to purchase his way to the top of an organ recipient list, all the while malaria still killing millions a year.

Thought it could have been worse, it could have been one million and one, and Mr. Jobs still can not take it with him when he goes.
plain
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@Goff256
Refute the evidence.
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@ hoaxner
Michael Alan Goff Updated - 23rd Oct 2010
Many people believe that the Great Depression was caused primarily by the Stock Market Crash of 1929. This is only one of the many things which caused it. Around 1930, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff was introduced. This increased the cost of trade, which decreased the GDP. Another thing that it contributed to was an increased in prices of domestic goods. Why not? There was no competition. That doesn't even take into account the bank failures, the drought, and the fact that it was exacerbated by a lack of private sector growth (Public Sector cannot create sustainable jobs)

Now let's look at who is to blame for the Financial Crisis that has recently come up.

Here's a partial list of those alleged to be at fault:
-The Federal Reserve, which slashed interest rates after the dot-com bubble burst, making credit cheap.
-Home buyers, who took advantage of easy credit to bid up the prices of homes excessively.
-Congress, which continues to support a mortgage tax deduction that gives consumers a tax incentive to buy more expensive houses.
-Real estate agents, most of whom work for the sellers rather than the buyers and who earned higher commissions from selling more expensive homes.
-The Clinton administration, which pushed for less stringent credit and downpayment requirements for working- and middle-class families.
-Mortgage brokers, who offered less-credit-worthy home buyers subprime, adjustable rate loans with low initial payments, but exploding interest rates.
-Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who in 2004, near the peak of the housing bubble, encouraged Americans to take out adjustable rate mortgages.
-Wall Street firms, who paid too little attention to the quality of the risky loans that they bundled into Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), and issued bonds using those securities as collateral.
-The Bush administration, which failed to provide needed government oversight of the increasingly dicey mortgage-backed securities market.
-An obscure accounting rule called mark-to-market, which can have the paradoxical result of making assets be worth less on paper than they are in reality during times of panic.
-Collective delusion, or a belief on the part of all parties that home prices would keep rising forever, no matter how high or how fast they had already gone up.
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@Mister Spock

"(it has been implied) may have attempted to use his money to purchase his way to the top of an organ recipient list"

Repeating an insinuation such as this is illogical, Mister Spock.

It has no foundation in fact.

If there was any truth to it, Job's celebrity would have brought it to light by now.

We Humans have an old joke; "Have you stopped beating your wife?".

If you deny it, you're accused of STILL beating your wife.

If you say "yes", you're accused of having PREVIOUSLY beaten your wife.

It's a version of the Ad Hominem attack, in which you demean your opponent by tarnishing his reputation.

And it's what you are doing here. A weak tactic, founded on an emotional response.

Sarek would be ashamed for his son.
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@goff256
You forgot, especially in the gd that heavy buying on margin, around 10% was legal, not unlike the housing bubble. Credit default swaps were completely deregulated as were derivatives markets. Next we have deregulation stating investment houses could buy retail banks when they couldn't before. I didn't mean to imply that they were solely responsible. However there were many safeguards that were ignored or even encouraged to be broken. Ethics were gray at both times and the consumer paid the price as we always do.
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to put their weight behind bad loans? This sort of thing wouldn't have happened.
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@frgough The "judeo-christian" moral code is the antithesis of freedom. You want a theocracy? Move to Iran.
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Wow, this is a joke
Michael Alan Goff Updated - 25th Oct 2010
"The "judeo-christian" moral code is the antithesis of freedom. You want a theocracy? Move to Iran."

Here are some of the things the Bible tells us:

-Don't Commit Murder
-Don't Steal
-Don't Commit Adultry
-Don't Bear False Witness
-Don't covet stuff that doesn't belong to you
-Be Charitable
-Be Honest
-Love thy Neighbor

Yep. Horrible, Freedom-destroying, things.

Edit: Oh, not to mention that your logic would also say that laws themselves are the anti-thesis of freedom. The Government itself is the Anti-thesis of freedom. Because if a moral code that tells you what you should do is, then anything that has a sole purpose of telling you what you can and cannot do definitely is.
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Huh?
msalzberg 22nd Oct 2010
@mwagner@...

You do realize that Apple's money doesn't belong to Steve Jobs, don't you?
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@mwagner@...

and BG can do that because he owns a whole stack of MSFT shares and he was relentless (ruthless?) businessman (as one associate said "when bill gates plays with you he wants to walk away with all the marbles").

BG has tens of billions. SJ doesn't even have 10 billion. In spite of the fact Apple is now around 50 billion BIGGER than Msft in market cap (value of shares)
WHY?

Since his return to Apple in 1996 Steve Jobs has $1 a a year salary and has NOT taken any stock options since 2003.

which is better ? A (former) CEO which ran a company that charges premium for it's products (current example: upgrades for most versions Windows is a lot more expensive than Snow Leopard at $29) with huge gross profit margins (Msft around 80% vs 30+ for Apple) and owns huge amount of shares vs a CEO who takes a $1 and no stock options?

whose money is BG distributing and getting sainthood now? How did he get it? (go google the numerous lawsuits, anti competitive, monopoly charges Msft has been involved in) Although I'm glad and it's great he's involved in charity rather than hoarding to the end he does somewhat remind me of the Renaissance princes like Machiavelli or Cesare Borgia who often donated to charity and built cathedrals in their old age as expiation for the (to put it politely) "excesses of their vigorous life".

PLUS can anyone PROVE that SJ does NOT give anything to charity from his much smaller cash hoard? SJ is a private person. (SJ Fortunes' CEO of the decade is the highest profile CEO now yet how many photos have you seen of his wife and children vs BG?)
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How about buying Google? (N/T)
Stormbringer_57th 22nd Oct 2010
N/T
Good day to confirm this comment I would appreciate T h e b e s t o f Z D N e t d e l i v e r e d your website very nice to everyone Yes, Oracle is the only one with shared-disk architecture, but that is there advantage. It means you can add or remove nodes and the database lives on. In a shared nothing architecture, if you lose a node, you lose the system. I'm sure Oracle appreciates EMC highlighting their advantage.I also desire to signal in your RSS feeds. Thank you as soon as once again and maintain up the great operate Awesome post! Thank you very much || thanks for nice content this is really benefit to me.

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