I wrote a post 20 months ago saying Apple should certainly acquire Adobe and why, in the time that has passed Apple has doubled their cash position and the market cap for ADBE has been cut by 25%. I wrote back then that Apple’s cash position would become a drag on their balance sheet, of course today with the financial markets in the condition they are in this is certainly not the case but at some point you are going to get serious shareholders asking what they are going to do with that cash.

Adobe is a great cultural and product fit, and they are well managed with a strong balance sheet and good growth. Combining two well run companies of such complimentary fit results in a package that is certainly much greater than the sum of the parts.

And five, we have almost $25 billion safely in the bank and zero debt. This provides us tremendous stability and the ability to invest our way through this downturn. This is what we did during the last downturn — we increased R&D investments and created some of our best new products and businesses, like the Apple retail stores, for one. This downturn may also present some extraordinary opportunities for companies that have the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does.

[From Apple F4Q08 (Qtr End 9/27/08) Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha]