Patient research work involving more than 5 thousand photographs resulted in a 1 minute film that AlmapBBDO created to advertise Getty Images, the world leading image database for creating and distributing visual contents…
Source: WSJ
Facebook went public today – trading on the NASDAQ for the first time under the Stock ticker FB and while the social network company priced its IPO at $38 a share, it actually opened at around $42. So what does this mean?
After years of “us” going public thanks to Facebook, looks like it’s time for Zuk and Co. to take FB public. Rumors have the social network going public within weeks, with an initial stock price of $28-$35. So what does this mean for would-be-investors wanting to get rich – nothing. Anyone not getting in on pre-market trading is just begging to get burned. This is an IPO that is going to make those already invested in FB extremely rich – the rest of us can just continue giving our private info to Facebook.
Source: WashingtonPost
Apple has issued a press release and Tim Cook (C.E.O.) is taking a conference call this morning, announcing that Apple will start paying its stock holders a dividend of $2.65/share (starting in fiscal Q4) and a stock buy back program that will go into effect sometime in September 2012. The long running joke was that Apple’s cash wasn’t burning a hole in its pockets but over the last 2-3 years, investors started making noise about possible dividends – afterall, Apple has been sitting on close to $100 Billion in cash/short term assets.
We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You’ll see more of all of these in the future,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program…
While we all know the success Apple has had with the iPod, iPhone and iPad – it’s hard to imagine how that success has turned into Apple having a market value of over half a trillion dollars ($500 Billion). Apple now stands as the worlds most valued company, by market share and from the looks of things, they aren’t stopping anytime soon.
Apple’s success story is simple and elegant: Steve & Company have been able to see and “make” trends to consumer devices, which make them market leaders (creators) and the competition ends up playing catch-up (fighting over the scraps). Will this continue into the TV space and home entertainment? Apple TV on the way.
Source: New York Times
Well, we were all waiting for this day and it’s finally come. Today, Facebook filed its paperwork with the Securities & Exchange Commission - its first step to going public and raising $5 billion+. When Facebook (Stock Symbol FB) finally gets an opening stock price, the company will be valued at around $100 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, C.E.O and founder owns 28.4% of Facebook, so when the company does go public (at a value of $100 Billion) he stands to make around $30 billion in a single day. If you missed out on Apple, Google, Ebay, Amazon and all other great IPOs, here is your chance to get in on the biggest public offering in some time – you might just make some cash.
Source: TheVerge
Once again, Apple has smashed analyst predictions and has released Q1 2012 revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion. What does that mean? Apple is still essentially printing mountains of money and their cash/short term/long term assets amount to almost $100 billion. Here is the break down:
So where did all that cash come from, well Apple and its massive retail presence was super busy over the holiday quarter, selling: 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter – 128 percent unit growth Yr/Yr, 15.43 million iPads during the quarter – 111 percent unit increase Yr/Yr, 5.2 million Macs during the quarter – 26 percent unit increase Yr/Yr and 15.4 million iPods – 21 percent unit decline Yr/Yr. Tim Cook, Apple’s C.E.O. had this to say at the earnings call:
…We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs. Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline…
Not surprisingly, Apple iPhone 4S is the big story here – generating 53% of the quarters revenue. Weirdly, the 4S was widely written off, both by the press and tech journalists but it seems the public had no issue with its non-upgraded exterior look. Additionally, 58% of revenue is now taken in by international sales, China quickly becoming Apple’s new cash cow.
Besides hardware, Apple also generated cash from its services, like the iTunes store, App Store, retail stores and iCloud services, here is some interesting numbers for those revenue streams: 85 million iCloud users - 140 million App Store downloads on Christmas Day alone - 110 million visitors to Apple Stores. If you want more technical details about Apple’s Q1 2012 results – here is a recording of their live stream – Click here. So, where do we go from here and what does Q2 2012 look like?
We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50…
Source: Apple – Source: MacRumors – Source: New York Times
As we had covered earlier this month, Kodak today filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but vowed that it would still stay in business. While the company was quick to point out that the bankruptcy filing was a first step in restructuring and securing cash/investments - the stock market didn’t seem to share their enthusiasm for the future of Kodak.
So what’s next for Kodak? One option would be for it to sell its large imaging patent portfolio, which has been rumored to be worth more than $1 billion. Apple, Google, HTC and Amazon have been rumored to be interested in Kodak’s patents, especially imaging patents that would cover their smartphones. Regardless of the moves Kodak makes from here on, this is the death rattle of a once great/innovative company. From Kodak’s Blog:
On January 19, 2012, Eastman Kodak Company and its U.S. subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 business reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The business reorganization will enable Kodak to bolster liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the Company to focus on its most valuable business lines…
Source: Kodak
Strategic is an understatement! As everyone knows by now, on monday (MLK Day – Stock Market was closed) Steve Job’s announced that he will be taking a medical leave from Apple (Remains C.E.O.) for an undisclosed amount of time – tuesday, after the closing bell, Apple releases their best quarterly results ever. This was classic Apple smoke and mirrors and actually for the regular stock holder, a dream come true because the overall health of the stock price stayed the same. Click here to see the quarterly results or see the breakdown below:
1) $6 Billion in Profit on $26.7 Billion in Revenue
2) Iphone 4 sales: 16.4 Million Sold – Up 86%
3) Mac Sales: 4.13 Million Units Sold – Up 23%
4) IPod Sales: 19.4 Million Units Sold – Down 7%
5) IPad Sales: 7.33 Million Units Sold
One specific note of interest is the IPad sales numbers – essentially 3 million more units that regular Mac sales – sneak peak into the future folks. NEXT!!