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Apple pays off $300M in debt, becomes debt free

updated 10:15 am EST, Wed February 18, 2004

Apple becomes debt free

As , according to a letter from Steve Jobs to company employees: "Today is a historic day of sorts for our company. When I arrived back at Apple in mid-1997, the company was burdened with $1 billion of debt. Through everyone's hard work we turned Apple around, paid off the majority of our debt and began to amass a war chest of cash in the bank which has grown to about $4.8 billion! But there was still $300 million of remaining debt, which we decided to hold to maturity. Today we used $300 million of our cash to pay off this remaining debt. Apple is now a debt-free company � for the first time in over a decade! It sure feels good."

by MacNN Staff

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02/18, 10:20am | report spam | close Reply |
great!

let's see some lower prices now!!

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02/18, 10:20am | report spam | close Reply |
you're fired!

Someone is going to get fired for leaking this memo...

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02/18, 10:27am | report spam | close Reply |
??

why would they get fired? Apple is a PUBLIC company.

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02/18, 10:34am | report spam | close Reply |
That's Super

Now maybe Steve could pay off some of my debt incurred from buying all the cool new stuff from Apple! j/k

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02/18, 10:39am | report spam | close Reply |
OMG

They must be going out of business....ahhhhhhhh.

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02/18, 10:43am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: ??

They'd get fired because it's just that time o' year. Spring cleaning and all that..

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02/18, 10:46am | report spam | close Reply |
well,

Because I wanted a Mac more then a PC i'm not debtfree myself at the moment...

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02/18, 10:46am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: OMG

As they say, "Apple: Proudly going out of business for over 25 years" :)

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02/18, 10:50am | report spam | close Reply |
re: fired

"why would they get fired? Apple is a PUBLIC company."

Internal memo's and documents do not need to be disclosed to the public. If you followed your logic all the way through, Apple would have to release the source code for all programs, how much each employee makes, any prototype computers, etc;

If you've ever worked within a business, you would know the difference between an internal document and a press release.

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02/18, 10:57am | report spam | close Reply |
RIPE

Apple is just RIPE to have 10-15 million $ added to their credit rating after this...

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02/18, 11:02am | report spam | close Reply |
Rest of the letter

The original letter continued to say...

"I know that many of you have been waiting for your promised pay raises for over 3 years. Unfortunately, because of our desire to be debt free, we will not be able to address this issue until Q2 of 2005."

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02/18, 11:15am | report spam | close Reply |
Hmm

I thought the idea was to buy low and sell high. With today's unpresidented low interest, now exactly the time to be getting into debt - as long as you think you are going to be around when the economy turns around...

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02/18, 11:19am | report spam | close Reply |
RIPE

AAARRRGGGGHHHHHH!! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

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02/18, 11:21am | report spam | close Reply |
What?

Just because rates are low, doesn't mean you should go get into debt unless you have a reason to do so. Apple has a buttload of cash, they don't need it. Otherwise how would they have paid off a billion dollars in debt?

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02/18, 11:26am | report spam | close Reply |
re: "RIPE"

ummm...is there some sort of hidden meaning behind this word? why is it always used in comments to stories?

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02/18, 11:27am | report spam | close Reply |
Agreed

Why borrow money from other people, when you have almost $5 Billion in the bank? I suspect Apple would have been debt-free long earlier, but that this $300 Million had fees associated with buying out early.

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02/18, 11:31am | report spam | close Reply |
takeover

Apple is now just RIPE for a takeover bid with all that cash in the bank.

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02/18, 11:33am | report spam | close Reply |
RIPE

The word is just RIPE to be used in 10-15 comments per article

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02/18, 11:33am | report spam | close Reply |
options

unfortunately the apple board gave jobs $6 billion in stock options so they are right back where they started.

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02/18, 11:46am | report spam | close Reply |
MacNN

What's funny (and sad) is that MacNN is reporting this as news and does not acklowdge this as an internal memo. Whoevers running this site has no clue about journalism.

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02/18, 11:50am | report spam | close Reply |
Ripe

Who farted?

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02/18, 11:53am | report spam | close Reply |
RE: Internal Memo

"As anticipated last month, Apple is now a debt free company, according to a letter from Steve Jobs to company employees..."

Doesn't that pretty much indicate that it is an internal memo? A letter from the CEO to company employees is not exactly "external communications".

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02/18, 12:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
MacNN != journalism

All your press release are belong to us

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02/18, 12:05pm | report spam | close Reply |
yes but

I ate all your bees

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02/18, 01:03pm | report spam | close Reply |
pay more

wages to the employyes then, and while your at it, lower your prices. Ripping off the consumer on last year technology G4 systems shouldn't continue this year, much less last year. G4's are so behind the times in speed...

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02/18, 01:05pm | report spam | close Reply |
Good.

Now reward us peons with some 3ghz Macs at a decent price.

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02/18, 01:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: ripe

STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP STF UP

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02/18, 01:27pm | report spam | close Reply |
heh

"let's see some lower prices now!!"

Never happen. iPod mini proved it, among other things. Apple likes their insanely high margins.

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02/18, 03:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
RIPE

These RIPE messages are about 10-15 times more annoying than most MacNN messages. (And that is saying something.)

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02/18, 03:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
Prices

The point of Apple's pricing is to create a viable, profitable company. I can't believe the people who come on and whine that Apple is charging too much, and being profitable is somehow proof of their malfeasance. Apple's number one job for their shareholders and their customers is to remain in business, and being profitable is the only way to do this. Jobs has been intelligent enough to stay away from trying to grab market share through low or negative margins, and has a much stronger company as a result. That strength will help with sales in the future; it wasn't that long ago that I heard otherwise intelligent people say that they wouldn't buy Macs because "Apple was going out of business." You don't hear that talk anymore!

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02/18, 03:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: RIPE

ummm...is there some sort of hidden meaning behind this word? why is it always used in comments to stories?

Yes, its pretty obvious too. It means "Hey, look at me, I'm a dumb-a** who has no self-worth, maturity, individualism, nor a single creative thought, so I must repeat other people's 'cool' tag lines so I can be part of the so-called 'hip' crowd, hoping no one will notice that I have no worth to add to this world."

I know, you're kicking yourself that you missed that connection...

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02/18, 04:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
Are You Listening, Dubya?

Solvency is good. Debt is bad. Read my lips: The rich got rich on welfare. Take it back in taxes. No deficits, no debt!

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02/18, 04:27pm | report spam | close Reply |
prices

"The point of Apple's pricing is to create a viable, profitable company."

WhoopDeFrickenDo. I can be profitable myself if I charge $1000 for a stapler with a pretty handle and I can get 100 idiots to preorder it. Meanwhile, the rest of the world laughs and buys their staplers for $3.

The funny thing is when I buy my $1000 stapler and I find out later that it comes with no staples, which I need to pay an extra $300 for. (My friend ordered a G4 a while back and nearly killed someone after he found out it didn't come with something as simple as a Line Out jack. Apple told him he needed to buy a sound card.)

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02/18, 04:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
Farcical

The comments to these so-called news stories are becoming almost as bad as the regurgitated press releases which constitute the bulk of the content of the stories.

Maybe MacNN is just 'RIPE' to go on an evening course in journalism.

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02/18, 04:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
Farcical

The comments to these so-called news stories are becoming almost as bad as the regurgitated press releases which constitute the bulk of the content of the stories.

Maybe MacNN is just 'RIPE' to go on an evening course in journalism.

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02/18, 04:42pm | report spam | close Reply |
RE: pay more

True, the G4 is a bit behind the performance curve...that's why we now have the G5 =)

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02/18, 04:48pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: prices

WhoopDeFrickenDo. I can be profitable myself if I charge $1000 for a stapler with a pretty handle and I can get 100 idiots to preorder it. Meanwhile, the rest of the world laughs and buys their staplers for $3.

Lot's of if's in that statement. Apple actually can get people to buy their stuff, overpriced or not. You wouldn't be able to.

Oh, and if your friend so desparately needed a line-out jack, don't you think he should have done something as simple as "Read the freakin' tech specs" before laying down a boat-load of money on a computer, Apple, Dell, or whoever! PC or Mac, if I'm speccing out a computer, I go through ALL the details to make sure it has what I need. For example, did you know that, in Dell's notebook line, their consumer machines had like 5 USB ports, but in their professional lines, they had only one or two?

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02/18, 05:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
what about...

you stopping bashing at MacNN every time they report something interesting happens to the Mac community, but is not late-breaking news or has been reported elsewhere before. Other people complain that MacNN reports "memos" as "news".. I don't recall seeing a huge sign "This is Very Important News ->". the questions we have to ask ourselves before bashing is: 1� is the fact true? 2� is it relevant/interesting to the Mac community?. so for this particular case, the article tells us Apple is now a debt-free company. The word is out so MacNN did its job right!

(sorry for my english i'm french-canadian)

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02/18, 06:52pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: what about...

"(sorry for my english i'm french-canadian)"

French-Canadian, hunh? Sooo, that Conan O'Brien's a funny funny guy, ain't he? Heh.

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02/18, 09:41pm | report spam | close Reply |
what about

(sorry for my english i'm french-canadian)

Dont be sorry for your english its fine, I'm English Canadian and mine sucks

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02/18, 09:41pm | report spam | close Reply |
what about

(sorry for my english i'm french-canadian)

Dont be sorry for your english its fine, I'm English Canadian and mine sucks

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02/18, 09:43pm | report spam | close Reply |
Woops

Double post sorry

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02/18, 09:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
No RIPE for you

All this RIPE talk is makin ma hed hurt. Blog it before the jack rises.

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02/19, 02:18am | report spam | close Reply |
"prices" - REALLY LAME

"WhoopDeFrickenDo. I can be profitable myself if I charge $1000 for a stapler with a pretty handle and I can get 100 idiots to preorder it."

Yeah right... maybe if you made the stapler out of 2.5 ounces of pure gold. The strength of Apple is that they CAN (in real life) get 100,000 legitimate consumers to pre-order the $249 "stapler" (iPod mini).

"My friend ordered a G4 a while back and nearly killed someone after he found out it didn't come with something as simple as a Line Out jack. Apple told him he needed to buy a sound card."

That's about the dumbest thing I ever read. Your imaginary friend must have bought a "G4" made by eMachine, because every Mac ever made has had an sound output jack. If you're going to be a troll, make yourself better informed...

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02/19, 05:16am | report spam | close Reply |
$5 Billion in the bank ah

It seems to me the timing is ripe for Apple to get into the international banking business. Start lending that cash and making sound investments and you see that fortune multiply. Or perhaps do some aggressive acquisitions of overly ripe companies, ehh like Disney. Then we can have a lot of Mac commercial in the Disney channels. Disney is drowning innovatively these days. Make a few Mac geniuses can contrive a method of helping them get their feet back on solid ground at the nearest ripe.

Hmm... I think I managed to use "ripe" in all three recognized meanings. Am I ripe to get flamed now?

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02/19, 06:14am | report spam | close Reply |
what's with this link he

I don't speka di svedish!

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02/19, 12:35pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: $5 Billion

This is exactly why I suggested apple go in debt. Get low interest loans. Invest part of $5 billion in things that get returns that are greater than the interest on the loan and money is made plus return on product or what ever.

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Apple pays off $300M in debt, becomes debt free

updated 10:15 am EST, Wed February 18, 2004

Apple becomes debt free

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great!

you're fired!

??

That's Super

OMG

Re: ??

well,

Re: OMG

re: fired

RIPE

Rest of the letter

Hmm

RIPE

What?

re: "RIPE"

Agreed

takeover

RIPE

options

MacNN

Ripe

RE: Internal Memo

MacNN != journalism

yes but

pay more

Good.

re: ripe

heh

RIPE

Prices

Re: RIPE

Are You Listening, Dubya?

prices

Farcical

Farcical

RE: pay more

Re: prices

what about...

Re: what about...

what about

what about

Woops

No RIPE for you

"prices" - REALLY LAME

$5 Billion in the bank ah

what's with this link he

Re: $5 Billion

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