Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein shot down all of the takeover theories that have circulated around the company in the last few weeks. The exec points to the $592 million in cash that Palm has and says that the money will give Palm some breathing space to keep going forward. While that is a lot of dough, to put it in perspective, Apple has $40 billion in cash and short term investments on its balance sheet which gives them the ability to consider an $8 billion purchase of ARM as we reported yesterday. Rubinstein says that Palm has a pipeline of great phones in development although no details were forthcoming from the executive. He did say that Palm does have a plan to follow to return to profitability. The CEO added that the company is open to licensing the well received webOS operating system or forming a “strategic alliance” with another company. Recent rumors have linked Palm to buyout offers from China’s Huawei and Taiwan based HTC. Even though he says that Palm can survive alone, Rubinstein did tell the financial paper that he would take a look at being acquired if all other options fail. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets believe that the company-with a current market cap of $820 million, could attract bids of $2-3 billion based on the attractiveness of webOS to another manufacturer.
source:FinancialTimes via electronista