Apple, Inc. AAPL is not known as a company that lays heavy emphasis on inorganic growth or growing through mergers and acquisitions. That said the company has had its fair share of M&A transactions that have helped the company improve its product and services.
Cupertino is said to have made 129 acquisitions, with the most recent one being WaveOne, an AI-driven video compression startup. The purchase was reported by media in late March, although the company did not make an official announcement in this regard.
Apple's Biggest Buy: Apple, led by CEO Tim Cook, announced an agreement to Buy Beats Electronics on May 28, 2014. The purchase was negotiated at a staggering price of $3 billion and the deal has the distinction of being the company's biggest purchase to date.
Bloomberg anchor Jon Elrichman shared on Twitter a CB Insights graphics on Apple's acquisition.
See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Apple Stock
The $3 billion helped Apple snap up both the subscription streaming music service Beats Music and Beat Electronics, which made the Beats headphones, speakers and audio software.
Explaining the logic behind the purchase, Cook said the company keeps investing in music as it is such an "important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple."
It was believed then that the purchase of Beats will give Apple privy to a range of high-end accessories, which would prove to be margin-boosting, and a streaming service to rival Spotify Technology S.A. SPOT.
Quiet rightly, Beats Music gave Apple a headstart as it launched its Apple Music streaming service. Apple Music subscriptions will likely hit 110 million by 2025, JPMorgan estimated in 2022, according to Forbes. Spotify said its paid subscription count was at 210 million at the end of the first quarter.
Apple does not break down its Apple Services subscription. On its first-quarter earnings call, the company said it has 1 billion active subscribers to its Services business.
Returns From Investing In Apple: $1,000 invested in Apple on the day the Beats deal was announced would have fetched an investor 50.5 shares.
Apple announced two stock splits after that — a 7-for-1 split on June 9, 2014, and a 4-for-1 split on Aug. 28, 2020 and also had periodic dividends in place.
Taking into account the stock's closing price of $175.43, the investors' holding would be worth $8,859.22, a 786% gain.
If Apple's periodic dividend payments and returns from potential reinvestment of dividends are accounted for, the gains would have been much more.
Apple closed Friday's session at $175.43, up 1.41%, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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