Steve Jobs: Our $25 Billion Provide Security, Flexibility

Speaking at a shareholder meeting this week, Steve Jobs had an interesting reply to a question about Apple's plans with all of its $25 billion in cash, according to Businessweek. Jobs reportedly said that Apple was holding on to the cash to take “big, bold” risks. However, an update to that story quickly changed Jobs’ answer to something a tad less aggressive.

Jobs, 55, said at the company’s shareholder meeting in Cupertino, California that Apple was holding on to cash for security and flexibility reasons. “We know if we need to acquire something -- a piece of the puzzle to make something big and bold -- we can write a check for it and not borrow a lot of money and put our whole company at risk,” Jobs argued, answering the aforementioned question. “The cash in the bank gives us tremendous security and flexibility,” he reportedly told people attending the shareholder meeting.

“You never know what opportunities are going to be around the next corner,” Jobs said, offering further insight into the company’s M.O. “We are a large enough business now that, in order to really move the needle, we have to be thinking pretty bold -- pretty large.”

An even more interesting reply came from Steve Jobs when asked about the biggest challenges the company saw going forward. “Shareholder meetings,” Jobs quickly answered the question “What keeps you up at night?” He also provided arguments, in usual Steve Jobs-manner, saying, “Apple requires stability in the world. People aren’t going to worry about which laptop to buy if they can’t afford dinner, can’t afford to send their kids to school, can’t afford textbooks. There are things much bigger than us that are out of our control. So we try to just do the best we can.”

Speaking about Apple’s board of directors, the iconic CEO stated, “We have some great meetings, a lot of very long discussions, a few arguments now and then. It’s terrific.” “They really love Apple and they really want to see Apple be the best it could be. We are so lucky to have the board of directors that we have,” he said. Read the full story here.