Apple Now Debt Free, Says Internal Memo

An anonymous reader writes "99mac.se publishes an internal memo from Steve Jobs to Apple employees today. According to the Memo, Jobs states that "Today is a historic day of sorts for our company." Apple used $300 million in cash to pay off the rest of their debt, and is now a debt-free company. A big turnaround from over $1 billion in debt in mid-1997. Also noted in the memo is that Apple has $4.8 billion in the bank at this time." (Since this is not coming straight from Apple, confirmation -- or debunking -- would be helpful.)

Because..

[LilGuy]

They didn't make a game console that doesn't make money.

Time to celebrate...

[Anonymous Coward]

...by putting a whole bunch of iPods on the credit card.

debunk

[fjordboy]

I can debunk it right now - Steve Jobs owes me thousands of dollars for the mental anguish I've experienced when trying to use the imac's original "hockey puck" mouse.

Lesson Learned...

[fetus]

Sometimes overcharging does pay off...

its about time

[steak]

I gave jobs three blintz to paint my fence back in '01, maybe now he can get around to doing it.

Yay...

[Anonymous Coward]

Now they can afford to cut the price of the ipod mini damn it...

Re:How does this compare with other companies?

[krog]

How does this compare? Favorably.

It's true!

[stephenb]

Apple's stock is up $.07 [lycos.com], it must be true! ;-)

It must be true!

[Anonymous Coward]

Steve's name is on the memo!!

Re:Lesson Learned...

[jasonhamilton]

They only had to sell 2 dozen ipods :)

How about me?

[blackmonday]

An iPod, a 15 inch PowerBook, iLife '04, Panther... if only I could get debt free. Apple has me hooked, I can't believe how much cash I spend on their products. Well worth it though.

Re:Because..

[perdelucena]

"Apple [...] is now a debt-free company."

One more prof that Apple is still dying...

Cool! That puts them in a great position

[kfg]

. . .to borrow capital.

KFG

Buy SCO?

[clmensch]

Apple should buy SCO, and then drop all lawsuits. They'll "own" Unix (whatever that means), and they can help continue their commitment to the Open Source community.

Re:want confirmation?

[mal3]

I doubt it's true. That bastard Jobs still owes me $5 from high school.

Re:Good for everyone

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see that as necessarily true. Even if we were to loose Apple, for all intensive purposes their'd be alot of competition, Dell vs HP for example. Apple has rediculous prices because of it's exclusive machines whereas Dell and HP are selling commodities. About the only thing Apple help's is keeping the MPAA of our backs with it's iTunes thing.

Sorry, I just wanted to annoy you.

Re:The big question

[Anonymous Coward]

For someone who claims to be an Apple fan, you sure know sweet fuck all about the Microsoft "investment."

Re:Witness...

[MuckSavage]

As an elitist, snobbish, cult-of-Jobs follower, I am offended by your statements.

Re:First to say - Well Done

[Misch]

They key is to manage the debt carefully, and make sure that the interest payments do not get so large that they start eating away at your profits.

Would you like to run for Congress? ;-)

Re:debunk

[GoofyBoy]

Do you know how much they've saved with not having to produce or do R&D for a second mouse button?

Re:Bad?

[yroJJory]

Indeed you are slightly mistaken here. Since Apple is now a debt free company, it makes it a more attractive buy for someone else since they do not have to take more debt, it makes it more attractive.

Oh. I see. Instead, we'll have to endure the "Apple is going to be bought by Disney" rumors again. Lucky us.

They still owe me!

[Perl-Pusher]

One ibook logic board! When I get my ibook back only then will the debt be paid!

The Wonders Of Spam

[Ilan Volow]

Steve Jobs must have replied to one of those anonymous e-mails titled "GET OUT OF DEBT NOW".

Get out of debt!

[markov_chain]

If companies with $4B in cash are responding to spam, we don't have a chance... Allman is right!

Re:How does this compare with other companies?

[jafac]

as any Bush-supporting Republican will tell you:
Surplus=BAD EVIL!
Debt=good.

Fantastic!

[Karl Cocknozzle]

Apple Now Debt Free, Says Internal Memo

How about lets celebrate with Dual-G5s all around?

huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

but i thought apple was dying?

-1 troll

Re:Good for everyone

[reso]

for all intents and purposes HP and Dell run the same OS

...now for intensive purposes i likes me sum vasoleeeeeen

It was me

[billstr78]

I bought an iBook on Friday for around $1300 without tax. That must have been the sale that pushed them over the edge.

Re:First to say - Well Done

[corbettw]

Of course, it doesn't hurt to colonize numerous less powerfull nations, systematically remove all profit and natural resources, then "benevolently" grant said colonies their independence when everything of value is gone and they're no longer profitable to the empire.

Hmm, maybe that's why the dollar is so weak compared to the pound....

Re:want confirmation?

[IanBevan]

Am I the only person here that has absolutely no idea what any of that means ? It kind of lost me after '$300 million...'.

Re:The big question

[JHromadka]

Will Apple use a bit of additional money to pay back the money Microsoft invested in them back... oh, was it 5, 6, 7 years ago? That might revive the old OS wars, and make a lot of Mac fans (including myself) quite happy...

Bah. See my sig. MS sold their shares of Apple a long time ago.

Re:First to say - Well Done

[InfiniteWisdom]

Ah so the US must be doing REALLY great then! The federal government owes $7 TRILLION in debt!

Thanks to Spam, to boot!

[Anonymous Coward]

All it took was for Jobs to respond to an email informing him that m0rttgage rattes are at an ALLL T1ME L0W, refnance now!

fdsaf fdfg4r
uttmfgs bnswf mmsgv orange micron
"And what would you havve me do?" Said Emma. The Rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain.

Click here to unsubscrbe.

Re:want confirmation?

[Aqua OS X]

Jobs probably used that $5 to buy his first black T-shirt at Mervyn's in 1972.

Re:How does this compare with other companies?

[mcwop]

They copied Apple.

Get out of Debt!

[ObiWonKanblomi]

I wonder if Apple actually replied to one of those "Get out of Debt!" spams.

And $300 million is missing from my PayPal acct.!

[turnstyle]

"Apple used $300 million in cash to pay off the rest of their debt, and is now a debt-free company."

And I just noticed that $300 million is missing from my PayPal acctount! The bastards.

Re:First to say - Well Done

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to mention the Germans who didn't even manage to colonise anyone at the time.

Well, other than France, that is.

--Greg

Re:Because..

[Anonymous Coward]

You must have been the moron I overheard haranguing the salespeople at Fry's because the $199.99 PC on sale for which you had been saving your dishwashing money reverted to $299.99.

But I thought Apple was still beleaguered

[Infonaut]

What happened to all the doom and gloom?

Where are the Wired magazine articles about how to "save" Apple?

Where in the hell is Dvorak when you need him?!

Re:debunk

[Andy_R]

1) If your hand is able to reach the touchpad, it is less than 1 inch away from the keyboard where there about 100 buttons. Are you really too lazy to reach them?

2) You should take a look at the folllowing list of Mac software that requires a 2nd button:

If you don't intend using any of those, you should be ok.

Re:want confirmation?

[Moofie]

Nonsense! I happen to know that you had to be able to spell "Internet" in order to get the VC millions.

Silly monkey.

Re:want confirmation?

[glitch!]

You played Lemonade Stand in high school?

Actually, yes :-)

Don't you know all the cool kids were playing Oregon Trail.

D'oh! At my school, the hot game was Three Mile Island. We never got the good games! :-)

Re:The Wonders Of Spam

[bruthasj]

It was actually an influx of cash via a Swiss bank account held by the nephew of the late king of Nigeria. Steve finally alleviated them of their financial burden.

Re:Interesting for a public company

[Anonymous Coward]

The bonds were due February 2004. Apple had no choice paying it off.

Maybe they teach that in the second year at Georgia Tech.