The 5 Companies Apple Must Buy

Apple's acquisition strategy has historically been conservative, focusing on small, "tuck-in" acquisitions of technical teams rather than large, established companies. However, a recent discussion on This Week in Startups suggests a radical shift under a hypothetical new CEO, John Turnis. The hosts propose that Apple should take "massively big swings," acquiring companies that can integrate with its existing product lines—iPhone, laptop, Watch, AirPods, and retail stores—to create entirely new revenue streams and categories.

The Apple Acquisition Draft: Big Swings for a Trillion-Dollar Company

The hosts engaged in a draft-style game, similar to fantasy sports, to select five companies Apple should acquire. The criteria for these picks were ambitious: companies that could generate hundreds of billions in new revenue and reduce Apple's dependency on the iPhone. With Apple's market capitalization nearing five trillion dollars and over $250 billion in cash, even multi-billion dollar acquisitions would be a mere rounding error.

The first pick was 11 Labs, a voice AI company. The rationale is clear: to dramatically improve Siri and transform the entire Apple ecosystem into a voice-commanded system. Imagine a future where your iPhone in the car handles texts, memos, and emails purely through voice, making driving safer and more productive. This acquisition, valued at around $5-10 billion, would be a foundational step in Apple's AI ambitions.

Next came a curveball: Disney. This pick represents a massive leap into entertainment, parks, merchandise, and intellectual property. Integrating Disney's vast content library into Apple One subscriptions and leveraging Disney stores for Apple product sales (think Mickey Mouse AirPods or Star Wars laptops) presents immense synergy. The interactivity at Disney parks could be revolutionized by Apple's device integration, creating an unparalleled user experience. Disney, with a market cap of $182 billion, would be a significant, yet affordable, acquisition for Apple.

Sony was another bold choice, primarily for its PlayStation gaming empire. Acquiring Sony would immediately give Apple a dominant position in the gaming console market, a device present in millions of homes. Beyond gaming, Sony brings a formidable TV and film distribution business (Sony Pictures), a massive music distribution channel (Sony Music), and ownership of Crunchyroll, the leading anime streaming service in the West. This would instantly make Apple a powerhouse in content and gaming, creating a Netflix rival and an anime distribution exclusive. Sony's market cap of $134 billion makes it another substantial, yet feasible, target.

For a truly transformative move, Boston Dynamics was selected. This acquisition would launch Apple into the robotics category, allowing them to develop an "Apple A1 robot." The trust associated with the Apple brand could overcome consumer hesitancy about bringing robots into their homes. While Boston Dynamics currently focuses on industrial applications, the long-term vision is a consumer-facing robot that could become a multi-hundred-billion-dollar revenue stream.

Perplexity was a highly anticipated pick, addressing Apple's need for a robust search engine and AI routing system. Owning Perplexity would allow Apple to offer its own default search, potentially replacing its deal with Google, and provide a model-agnostic AI platform for its devices. This would put Apple on the cutting edge of AI-driven search and agent technology.

Other notable picks included Digital Ocean for cloud hosting, Etched for AI chip development, Lucid (or Rivian) for electric vehicles and robo-taxis, and Go AI for local AI solutions. The overarching theme was to identify companies that could create entirely new, multi-billion-dollar revenue lines, reducing Apple's reliance on its core products.