Apple has slowed the rate at which it acquires startups and small companies, in response to global antitrust watchdogs and future economic uncertainty.
Whilst the tech giant was previously known for acquiring and making deals with companies every three to four weeks, the last two years has seen the company reduce their acquisition spending dramatically, from $1.5 billion (A$2.14 billion) for the 2020 fiscal year, down to $33 million (A$47.2 million) last year and $169 million (A$241.83 million) for the first nine months of this year.
Apple’s acquisitions, whilst high in numbers, have usually been of small companies and promising startups rather than major businesses. As a result, the Cupertino based tech company has bought 100 companies in the last six years, an average of over once a month, according to CEO Tim Cook.
In 2021 however, Apple only made one major acquisition when they purchased classical music streaming service Primephonic. 2022 has been similar, with the only two known acquisitions being Credit Kudos, which is used for calculating credit scores, and AI Music, which tailors’ music to users via AI.
Apple has also purchased distribution deals for Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, as well as other sows, but is still falling behind in acquisition spending when compared to its rivals, such as Amazon with IRobot Corp, the maker of the Roomba Vacuum for $1.65 billion (A$2.36 billion) and Microsoft purchasing major game studio Activision Blizzard for $69 billion (A$98.74 billion).
This slowdown does not reflect Apple’s financial situation however, after it ended last quarter with $179 billion (A$256.14 billion), and is likely to see a sales boom with the imminent launch of the iPhone 14.
