Will Facebook Buy Nokia?

Leading up to Cook's decision to issue a dividend and buyback, everybody had an opinion on how his company should spend its money. Most wanted Apple to make an indiscriminate purchase of another firm. Thankfully, that talk died off quickly because, say what you want about Cook, Apple knows how to best handle its cash hoard. It will spend wisely. It will not go on a shallow M&A shopping spree.

Contrary to what the critical mass of Facebook(FB) hate might lead you to believe, Mark Zuckerberg has a plan. While I have my ideas, I do not know what it is. Neither do you. And it's quite clear that Paul Amsellem, a managing director for a mobile marketing company out of Paris, has even less of a clue than you and I.

In typical let's see if I can get my name on CNBC form, Amsellem threw out the bold prediction that Facebook will buy Nokia(NOK) to make its rumored smartphone happen. He even included a price to make it easy for the companies' bankers -- $10 billion. And, if that deal does not work out, Amsellem claims Facebook can just buy Research in Motion(RIMM) for the bargain price of $6 billion.

It really doesn't have to be quite so complicated. Facebook should work a take-two-they're-small discount and buy both turnaround plays for $15 billion. Hopefully, any future austerity packages from France will include disconnecting Amsellem's Internet connection.

Zuckerberg: The Smartest Person in the Room?

In the same Computerworld article that broke the Amsellem non-story, another analyst, Rob Enderle, chimes in:

We have a young company, Facebook, flush with cash, led by a young, inexperienced CEO, who treats this cash as if it were something he won in a game show. So I expect this to end badly.