What will Apple do with its billions?

 Will Apple acquire Samsung? Okay, we admit, perhaps that’s a far-fetched idea (or maybe not!). But, it is among the various suggestions being bandied about what Apple Inc, the world’s most valuable company, might announce at its conference call on Monday.

In an unusual media release on Sunday, the maker of the iPhone, iPad and iPod said it would announce what it plans to do with its $98 billion cash hoard at the conference call.

At the moment, the top bet is that the company will announce a dividend for shareholders. But honestly, is Apple Inc hosting a conference call just to announce a share dividend? That would be such a let-down, although if the company didn’t announce a dividend, it might be an even bigger let-down for investors.ther option being parried about on what the company might do with its money are: use its formidable cash resources to bring back Shareholders have been clamouring for Apple to make better use of its cash pile for some time now. While having too much cash is rarely a problem for a company, Apple earns less than 1 percent in interest on the cash, which many investors view as wasteful, according to a report in The New York Times.

CEO Timothy Cook himself fuelled speculation that a dividend might be on the cards, when at a shareholder meeting earlier this year, he said the company has “more money than we need to run a company,” and that it was looking at other options.

Various media reports predicted that Apple would announce an annual dividend of 2-3 percent of its share price at the conference call. That indicates a dividend of $11.71 to $17.57, based on Apple’s closing share price of $585.57 on 16 March.

However, what needs to be noted here is close to 66 percent of the company’s cash is held by foreign subsidiaries. “To bring that cash back to the United States, Apple would have to pay hefty repatriation taxes, very likely more than 30 percent,” theNew York Times noted. So, a dividend plan may not necessarily be that easy for the company to implement.

The company last paid a dividend in 1995, before co-founder Steve Jobs returned as CEO.

Of course, another possibility is a share buyback. An announcement of the acquisition of another company is also deemed likely by some experts. This is where the Samsung idea fits in.  “It would both harm Google (Samsung is by far the most successful Android partner) and help Apple (which still heavily relies on Samsung chips and screens, etc). They don’t have quite enough cash to do that (but almost!), but the cash they do have could surely sweeten a deal,” speculates this blog post by MG Siegler.

Thenextweb.com speculates Apple might announce the acquisition of social media networking website Twitter.

The blog post also suggests other options on what Apple might do with its money: the tech giant might use its formidable cash resources to bring back manufacturing to the US. “This is right up CEO Tim Cook’s alley, as COO (chief operating officer), he completely reinvented Apple’s manufacturing and supply chain. It also fits with the legacy of Steve Jobs’ vision of the NeXT factory, making products on US soil,” the post notes.

In addition, given the brouhaha over the appalling working conditions of Chinese labourers who manufacture Apple’s various coveted devices, the company might decide to use some of its money to improve facilities in that country.

In  the order of the most likely announcements, we, therefore, have: dividend, buyback, acquisition, China-related decisions and bringing back manufacturing to the US.