12 Best Fortune 500 Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires

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8. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 159

Dollar Value of Billionaire Holdings: $101.7 billion

Number of Billionaire Investors: 21

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the best Fortune 500 stocks to buy according to billionaires. On June 21, Apple executives held internal discussions regarding a potential acquisition of the AI startup Perplexity. These talks are in an early stage and may not result in a formal offer, as Apple has not yet approached Perplexity’s management about a bid.

Apple’s interest in Perplexity comes from a need to enhance its AI talent and technology, particularly in developing an AI-based search engine. This is partly in response to the potential loss of its long-standing arrangement with Google, which makes Google the default search engine on Apple devices and generates an estimated $20 billion annually for Apple.

The partnership is currently under scrutiny from US antitrust enforcers. An acquisition of Perplexity could also provide Apple with a known AI brand and a consumer product, potentially aiding future recruiting efforts in the competitive AI landscape. Perplexity recently completed an investment round that valued the company at $14 billion. An acquisition at or near this valuation would represent Apple’s largest acquisition to date, surpassing its previous record of the $3 billion takeover of Beats in 2014.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. Perplexity is known for its AI-based search engine that provides real-time answers using information from the web.

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