Apple urged to overhaul strategy as AI struggles and $630 billion market value loss spark investor concerns

Apple is under growing pressure to rethink its corporate strategy to revive its faltering artificial intelligence initiatives. With a stock decline wiping out over $630 billion in market value this year and ongoing delays in launching AI features, investors are pushing for bold changes. They urge Apple to abandon its traditional approach, pursue a major acquisition, and aggressively recruit top talent to bolster its AI capabilities.
Ryan Vlastelica for Bloomberg News:
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“Historically Apple does not do big mergers and acquisitions,” said Citigroup Inc. analyst Atif Malik, noting that the last major deal was its takeover of Beats in 2014. But, he argues, “investors would turn more positive if Apple could acquire or invest a meaningful stake in an established AI provider.”
Apple shares have fallen 16% this year while traders bid up the shares of peers like Meta Platforms Inc., which is spending lavishly on AI. While Apple faces other problems, including its exposure to tariffs and regulatory issues, disappointment in bringing compelling AI features to its vast ecosystem of devices has become top of mind for investors.
The company has long shunned acquisitions in favor of building its own products. The largest acquisition in Apple’s history was a $3 billion deal for headphone maker Beats more than a decade ago.
There are signs that Apple may be warming up to such a move. Bloomberg News reported last month that executives have held internal talks about making an offer for AI startup Perplexity AI, which would add talent and help Apple develop an AI-based search engine. The startup recently completed an investment round that valued it at $14 billion.
Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush who is a long-time Apple bull, called buying Perplexity a “no brainer,” and said even if Apple paid $30 billion, that sum would be “a drop in the bucket relative to the monetization opportunity Apple can achieve on AI.”
Analysts at LightShed Partners say a shake up is “exactly what Apple needs right now,” even if that means Cook is replaced as CEO. “Missing on AI could fundamentally alter the company’s long-term trajectory and ability to grow at all,” Walter Piecyk and Joe Galone wrote in a note to clients on July 9.

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MacDailyNews Take: We’ll believe Apple is acquiring Perplexity or another AI startup the second the press release is posted.

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