Why Apple should buy Yahoo!

There are no shortages of ideas and suggestions for the spending of Apple’s $100 billion cash mountain. Some hopefuls entertained notions of a dividend, but this was squashed at today’s shareholders’ meeting. There will be no dividend, no share buyback and no stock split in the immediate future.

In the meantime, Forbes has come up with a suggestion that could make a lot of sense: Buy Yahoo!

Forbes contends Apple should get into the search engine business at a time when Yahoo! is weak and with a current net value of $18.3 billion. No doubt this valuation would soar if Apple showed any interest, but the company still offers a lot for a reasonable price.

More compelling arguments follow: Apple needs to stay in or get out of the advertising business; Apple should be developing key features and not relying so much on Google for aspects such as search, You Tube and maps; Yahoo! owns thousands of useful patents; Finally, Yahoo! could form the basis of an Apple payments system.

But, as Forbes points out, other suiters could be pulled in if Apple shows an interest in Yahoo!—among them Microsoft and Facebook, although for the moment Facebook is out of the running until it becomes a public company.

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