Apple Bought 20 to 25 Companies in the Last 6 Months, Says CEO Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down for an interview with CNBC on Monday where he revealed that Apple acquired between 20 and 25 companies in the past six months. The incredible number may seem huge, but is just another sign that Apple is one of the largest companies in the world, with a market capitalization above the $900 billion mark. Unfortunately, Cook didn't reveal the nature of business of the acquired companies, he did reveal Apple buys a company every two to three weeks.

Tim Cook attended Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting where in an interview with CNBC, he mentioned that after spending on expansion, the company looks to buy companies for their strategic value. Apple with the leftover money mostly acquires small companies primarily for their talent and intellectual property, he said. Cook is quoted to say, “We bought probably 20 to 25 companies in the last six months or so. And then, we look at, what do we have leftover? And if we've got something leftover, we look at where we can place it. And the top value that we believe we can place it is investing in ourselves and investing in Apple. And so we do that. We're fortunate in that, when we buy our stock we think that almost 50 percent of U.S. households own Apple stock, either directly or indirectly through indexes and mutual funds and so forth. And so it helps everybody or helps a large number of people.” You can check out CNBC's full interview with Tim Cook here.

Among the 20 to 25 companies that Apple has acquired, AI Assistant startup, Silk Labs is one of them that the company bought in November of last year. The following month in December, the company purchased a London-based music firm, Platoon. Then, earlier in March this year, the company acquired Italian Startup, Stamplay for EUR 5 million. And apart from these, most of the acquisitions that Apple makes are not that big, which doesn't make it necessary for the company to disclose purchasing details.