(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc., which used to buy a company every three or four weeks, has sharply slowed its acquisitions over the past two years, a sign that the tech giant is more demanding given a faltering economy and increased government oversight.

The company spent just $33 million on acquisition-related payments in the last fiscal year and $169 million in the first nine months of this year, according to regulatory filings. That’s far less than $1.5 billion in fiscal 2020.

Apple has notoriously avoided the kinds of popular acquisitions that have attracted its Silicon Valley counterparts. But the company has spent much of its history buying promising startups, some of which are the basis for popular features like Siri and Face ID. Last February, CEO Tim Cook noted that Apple had acquired 100 companies in the past six years, averaging more than one per month.

The flow of that transaction has been drastically reduced. Apple only made two known acquisitions in 2022: UK-based startup Credit Kudos and AI Music. The technology was previously developed to calculate credit scores, which is likely to help Apple’s efforts to build its own infrastructure for financial products. The second uses artificial intelligence to produce custom music.

Apple’s only known acquisition in 2021 is the purchase of Primephonic, a classical music streaming service.

These figures don’t take into account spending on Apple TV+ content, including purchased shows and distribution deals for Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, but contrast with the recent big bets made by other tech giants.

Microsoft Corp. agreed to purchase Activision Blizzard Inc. in January for an estimated $69 billion. Google Alphabet Inc. going to buy Mandiant Inc. for $5.4 billion. And, last week, Amazon.com Inc. agreed to acquire IRobot Corp., maker of Roomba vacuum cleaners, for $1.65 billion.

Of course, Apple has a lot of money to spend if it wants to keep up with trends. It ended last quarter with $179 billion in cash and securities, and could move quickly if it decides to strike a deal. Cook attended last month’s Sun Valley conference in Idaho, a popular venue for negotiating mega-mergers. However, for now, the company chooses to invest in share buybacks and dividends.

Apple declined to comment on its acquisition strategy.

original note:

Apple Slows Deal-Making Pace Even As Its Tech Partners Plow Forward

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