Apple's proposed spaceship campus goes way over budget

Shawn Knight

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Staff member

Apple’s proposed solar-powered “spaceship” campus is expected to cost an additional $2 billion more to construct than originally estimated. The total projected cost of $5 billion would make the structure more expensive to build than the new World Trade Center complex in New York City ($3.9 billion) according to five people close to the project as reported by Bloomberg.

If you recall, the late Steve Jobs personally announced plans to build the facility during a Cupertino City Council meeting in June 2011. In fact, it was his last public appearance on behalf of Apple before his death.

The co-founder was instrumental in designing the elaborate 176-acre complex which is expected to feature curved glass throughout with no seams, gaps or paintbrush strokes visible anywhere. What’s more, every wall, ceiling and floor is to be polished to a supernatural smoothness while the interior wood will consist of “heartwood” from the center of a specific type of maple tree.

It’s unclear whether or not all of these stringent design elements will stand as the architect behind the project, Foster + Partners, is reportedly trying to shave $1 billion from the budget. What we do know, however, is that the projected completion date has been moved back from 2015 to 2016 – validating rumors on the subject from late last year.

Apple could cancel the project altogether but that would likely be a huge mistake as A) they need the office space and B) it could be brand suicide. We’ll have to wait and see how investors react to these latest developments in the midst of declining stock value.

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This just in, there will be an across the board price increase in Apple's entire product line.

It does give one pause to wonder how could construction estimates be that far wrong? It's like somebody was holding the calculator wrong...:D

I'm still pumped for construction to begin:

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Maybe they'll offer tours for seniors....
 
Fire the project manager and institute some penalty clauses maybe? Besides why call this a space ship its a Doughnut ....Im hungry now. I wonder if its the sprinkles or the glaze that put the price up
 
Easy solution...
Reward Foxconn workers for diligent service (I.e. not topping themselves) by sending them to Cupertino for a working holiday. Should lower the labour charge substantially. Just need to make sure that the plans being followed are Apple's and not Foxconn's...
sxyyog.jpg

[ actually the inventively named "Round House 2" in Moscow]
 
Financial projections are always dubious unless it's a small, short-term project. I'm a bit surprised this story even made its way around the blogosphere. But, then again, it's Apple. :/

Kind of makes me sick. To bad this country is scared to tax the rich.

I take it you don't fancy reading IRS tax collection data? But I certainly see your point. It's truly obscene that Apple can spend $5 billion paying construction workers, material suppliers, and all the other parties involved in this project to do work/provide services in an economy with, what, 7.7% unemployment? Oh yeah, and all the property taxes, zoning fees, and so forth that they need to fork over just to build on the land... And, of course, there's the taxes each of the contracted parties pay on their income from this project. Nah. They should have donated it to Uncle Sam, because he's being totally cut out from this deal and would have put the money to much better use anyways. Shame on them. /end sarcasm
 
Kind of makes me sick. To bad this country is scared to tax the rich.
How the heck is that relevant to apple's building? tax money has nothing to do with paying for this. Derp.

Allow me to translate: "Apple would not be able to fund such a lavish project if they paid their taxes. This money could have been used to improve society but, instead, is being wasted for the sake of corporate largess."
 
I dunno about you guys but when I purchase a product I don't give a **** about what the developers office looks like, I care about the price and quality. This is a blatant waste of money that should be better used to help the customer ...
 
The building looks nice but to go over the One WTCs budget is just ridiculous.... a memorial building with 1776 floors < an Apple campus in terms of a budget... that is not right.
 
Steve Jobs is gone... time to take a piece of the cake home... giant piece by giant piece.
 
Oh dear!

Some of that $160 billion off hand cash sitting around can finally be put to some use.
 
Easy solution...
Reward Foxconn workers for diligent service (I.e. not topping themselves) by sending them to Cupertino for a working holiday. Should lower the labour charge substantially. Just need to make sure that the plans being followed are Apple's and not Foxconn's...
sxyyog.jpg

[ actually the inventively named "Round House 2" in Moscow]

Didn't apple give them a pay raise?
 
Kind of makes me sick. To bad this country is scared to tax the rich.

California has some of the highest taxes of any state in the US. And the US has one of the highest corporate tax rates of any country in the world. Apple pays (on the money it doesn't send to it's office in Nevada to avoid taxes) 35% to the federal govt and another 9% to California. I know it's easier to walk through life believing what you want instead of accepting things you don't like, but be careful about speaking up on public forums. Abe Lincoln once said, 'better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.'
 
How can Apple pay 9% to the state of California when they have that shell office in Reno to hide their revenue from the state?

I pay 35% to the the Feds (I'll guarantee you, Apple doesn't pay that rate on all their revenue) and almost 9% to California, so why can't I open a shell office in Reno to hide much of my income from the state? If I tried that California would arrest and put me on trial. Oh wait... I'm just a citizen, not a big American corporation. That's right, the rules are different.
 
Who the heck budgeted this thing? If I gave an estimate of three bucks and it turned out to be five, no sweat. But if one was looking to spend 3 billion and it turned out to be $5 billion??? That's some serious scratch!
 
How can Apple pay 9% to the state of California when they have that shell office in Reno to hide their revenue from the state?

I pay 35% to the the Feds (I'll guarantee you, Apple doesn't pay that rate on all their revenue) and almost 9% to California, so why can't I open a shell office in Reno to hide much of my income from the state? If I tried that California would arrest and put me on trial. Oh wait... I'm just a citizen, not a big American corporation. That's right, the rules are different.

Wrong. If you setup a shell office in Reno to hide your business income from the state they can't touch any of that cash. All you have to do is go through the proper legal procedures -- just like Appel et al have. These accounting tricks are hardly privileged tax strategies.

As for Apple's tax liability... About 25% or $14.03 billion of the company's income went towards taxes in 2012.
 
No, before a non-business entity could set-up that shell office in Reno they would have to incorporate in Nevada and be a viable business in California. The California Franchise Tax Board will quickly sniff out the ruse. Many have tried it and many have been busted. And there is no way that Apple (or any other big corporation in America) paid 25% of it's total income to Federal taxes. The tax code has far too many loopholes for corporations.
 
Branded

I'm just going to quote my own post.

Wrong. If you setup a shell office in Reno to hide your business income from the state they can't touch any of that cash. All you have to do is go through the proper legal procedures -- just like Appel et al have. These accounting tricks are hardly privileged tax strategies.

It should be self-evident that the process is neither straight-forward nor universally viable (otherwise every company under the sun would do it). However, it isn't a strategy limited to multi-billion dollar corporations. Smaller corps can effectively do the same thing if they've got the legal aspects worked out (as the strategy is technically lawful).

As for your latter point... https://www.google.com/finance?fstype=ii&q=nasdaq:aapl Apple's 2012 annual income statement clearly shows that approx. 24-25% of their pre-tax income went to the gov't.

But lets look at a few other big American corps in 2012.
Intel: 26% of pre-tax income paid to the gov't (3,868,000/14,873,000) http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=INTC+Income+Statement&annual
Walmart: 31% of pre-tax income paid to the gov't (7,981,000/25,737,000) http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=WMT+Income+Statement&annual
Netflix: 43.7% of pre-tax income paid to the gov't (13,328/30480) http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=NFLX+Income+Statement&annual
Exxon Mobile: 39.4% of pre-tax income paid to the gov't (31,045,000/78,726,000) http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=XOM+Income+Statement&annual
ConocoPhillips: 51.4% of pre-tax income paid to the gov't (7,942,000/15,423,000) http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=COP+Income+Statement&annual


And there is no way that Apple (or any other big corporation in America) paid 25% of it's total income to Federal taxes. The tax code has far too many loopholes for corporations.

A little research can go a long way towards constructing a theory that isn't made out of glass.
 
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