IBM Corp’s chief financial officer Jerome York says that IBM would consider a substantial acquisition with some of its $10,800m reserves – but there are no material acquisitions under consideration currently, although he told analysts there will come a point when we may well make one or two strategic acquisitions of considerable size; he told Dow Jones & Co that IBM might want to use an acquisition to bolster its existing businesses in hardware and software, or might look at related businesses, such as communications companies or content providers such as publishers, adding that any such acquisition is a couple of years away and that IBM hasn’t yet hired any investment bank to look for deals; it is not considering increasing the dividend, buying back its shares or further reducing debt.
