What businesses does Apple own?

Apple has two business segments: products and services. Its products include iPhone, the Mac series, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, Beats, and Apple TV. Meanwhile, services include AppleCare, cloud services, App Store, Apple TV+, Apple Card, and Apple Pay.

What company owns Apple?

No company owns Apple. It's a publicly traded company owned by its shareholders. Most of Apple's largest shareholders are asset management companies that own shares on behalf of their mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) clients. The Vanguard Group was its largest shareholder at 9.47% of Apple's outstanding shares in late 2025. Meanwhile, BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) and State Street (NYSE: STT) were its second- and third-largest shareholders at 7.76% and 4.04%, respectively. Apple's largest individual shareholder was Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B) at 1.6% of its outstanding shares. Apple was one of Berkshire's largest investments at 21.3% of its investment portfolio.

What does Apple invest in?

Apple makes significant investments in R&D to develop new technologies and enhance existing products and services. It poured a record $34.5 billion into R&D in 2025. It's investing heavily in AI to create generative AI products and tools. The company also invests its cash into various cash equivalents and marketable securities. Apple invests in money market funds, mutual funds and equity securities, U.S. Treasuries, certificates of deposit (CDs), corporate debt, and mortgage-backed securities (MBS).

What Does Apple Own? | The Motley Fool

What Companies Does Apple Own?

By Matthew DiLallo – Updated Jan 13, 2026 at 1:50 PM EST | Fact-checked by Parker Hicks

Key Points

Apple's revenue in 2025 included $307 billion from products and $109.1 billion from services.
Apple's key acquisitions enhance its tech and services, like Siri for voice commands and AuthenTec for security.
Apple considers future acquisitions in AI, financial technology, or entertainment to boost its services segment.

Apple (AAPL +3.24%) is one of the largest companies in the world. It had the highest market capitalization at $3.8 trillion in early 2026. It makes several top-selling technology products like the iPhone, Mac series, iPad, and Apple Watch. The company also has a growing services business, including its App Store, Apple TV+, and Apple Pay.

NASDAQ: AAPL

Apple

Today's Change

(3.24%) $8.79

Current Price

$280.14

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$4.0T

Day's Range

$278.37 - $287.22

52wk Range

$193.25 - $288.62

Volume

80M

Avg Vol

46M

Gross Margin

47.10%

Dividend Yield

0.37%

Apple built many of its products and services by investing heavily in research and development (R&D). However, Apple buys other companies from time to time. It primarily buys start-ups to acquire talent (it famously reacquired the services of co-founder Steve Jobs) and technology rather than an operating business with salable products.

However, Apple has acquired several companies over the years that have been crucial to its product development. Here's a look at some of the notable companies it now owns and some that it could look to acquire in the future. Learning what Apple does and the companies it owns is a key aspect of investment research for those seeking to learn how to invest money in its stock.

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What companies could Apple buy in the future?

Apple has bought a lot of companies over the years. However, most of its deals have been smaller purchases of talent and technology. Beats has been its biggest acquisition at $3 billion -- a drop in the bucket for the multitrillion-dollar technology titan.

Apple ended its fiscal fourth quarter of 2025 with $147.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities against $165.6 billion in debt. The company is also a cash-flow machine. It produced $111.4 billion in operating cash flow during the last 12 months, returning $106.1 billion to shareholders through dividends and repurchases.

Despite its massive cash war chest, Apple will likely continue to focus on smaller deals. A recent focus has been on artificial intelligence (AI) startups, with the tech giant buying dozens over the past few years, including WaveOne, DarwinAI, and Datakalab.

However, CEO Tim Cook has said in the past that Apple looks at many opportunities, including large ones. While it hasn't found the right one yet, Cook hasn't ruled out a mega deal. With that in mind, here are some companies analysts have speculated it might buy if it opted to use its financial firepower on a major deal.

Electric vehicles

One potential avenue it could explore is buying an electric car company. Apple abandoned the pursuit of building an electric vehicle (EV) after shutting down its Project Titan in 2024 due to cost overruns and a lack of progress. The company had poured a reported $10 billion into the project to develop a fully autonomous vehicle. Pulling the plug on the project has led analysts to speculate it might instead turn its attention to buying a company that has already developed an EV.

The company has lots of options. It could buy an EV startup like Rivian (RIVN -8.41%) or Lucid (LCID +2.67%). Like most start-ups, these companies are burning through cash as they develop and launch new products, so they could benefit from becoming part of a more deep-pocketed company like Apple.

Another option is to go big by acquiring the industry leader, Tesla (TSLA +2.45%). While Apple couldn't buy the automaker and technology company with cash, given Tesla's mammoth market cap of nearly $1.4 trillion, it could certainly afford the deal by using its stock. However, it might not be easy to convince the company's shareholders or its leader, Elon Musk, to sell.

Streaming content and VR

Given that Apple abandoned its pursuit of developing a car, it might shift its focus to growing one of its existing product or service lines. If it wants to make a needle-moving deal, it has lots of other options. For example, it could acquire a content company like Disney (DIS -0.56%) or Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA).

Disney would be an interesting fit. It has a growing streaming empire (Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+) that Apple could add to its services business, which also includes streaming service Apple TV+. Apple wants to get more into live sports, which makes ESPN a potential strong strategic fit. It could combine all those services into a cable-like package. Another way Disney could fit within Apple is to create more immersive experiences by leveraging its virtual reality (VR) expertise. The company launched its Vision Pro VR headset in 2024. It could add immersive content from Disney to that platform, like Star Wars and Avatar-type virtual worlds. Meanwhile, Apple could eventually use its VR technology to create immersive experiences at Disney parks and resorts.

Paramount Global would offer Apple another way to grow its services business. The company owns several premier content brands, including CBS and Nickelodeon. It also has a streaming service (Paramount+) and expertise in live sports.

Financial technology

Another potential acquisition option is to expand its payment services capabilities by purchasing a company like PayPal (PYPL +0.60%). The financial technology company owns its namesake payment platform and Venmo. It also owns the Honey shopping extension. Acquiring PayPal would significantly expand Apple's payment services business.

Fitness

Apple has also gotten into the fitness sector through wearable technology (Apple Watch) and its Apple Fitness+ service. It could expand both categories by acquiring a fitness product and service company like Peloton (PTON -1.65%). An acquisition of Peloton would give Apple a large installed user base (3 million subscribers) to grow its health platform. It could potentially offer integrated health and fitness products and services with the Apple Watch, Vision Pro, and Peloton.

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The bottom line on companies Apple owns

Apple has bought many companies over the years. Most of its deals have been to acquire talent or technology, not products. It will likely continue with that strategy.

However, the company has the financial fortitude to make a needle-moving deal. It could consider many pathways, depending on what aspect of its business it wants to beef up through an acquisition. A deal could enhance shareholder value, especially if it accelerated Apple's growth rate by adding another high-margin service business to its ecosystem that could further enhance Apple's appeal as a great stock to buy and hold for the long term.

FAQs

Companies Apple owns: FAQs

About the Author

Matt DiLallo has been a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst specializing in covering dividend-paying companies, particularly in the energy and REIT sectors, since 2012. He also covers pre-IPO companies, ETFs, and other investing topics. He holds an MBA from Liberty University.

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@MatthewDiLallo

Matt DiLallo has positions in Apple, Intel, PayPal, Tesla, and Walt Disney and has the following options: short January 2026 $265 calls on Apple, short March 2026 $125 calls on Walt Disney, and short March 2026 $80 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Intel, PayPal, Peloton Interactive, Tesla, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short March 2026 $65 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

What Companies Does Apple Own?

Key Points

NASDAQ: AAPL

Key Data Points