Indiewench photo via Flickr

Kara Swisher at All Things Digital asks a great question today: Why haven't cash-rich companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Cisco used the economic downturn to gobble up new technologies or struggling rivals. Swisher cites unnamed tech executives who say they are basically waiting for the bottom to hit. On the flip side, she quotes a startup executive who says the company doesn't want to sell out at such a low valuation.

That signals a logjam for mergers and acquisitions. After all, if buyers are waiting for the cheapest prices and sellers would rather run out of cash than sell at historic lows, very few deals are going to get done. Obviously, at some point, the logjam will break. But it hasn't yet. 

At the WTIA predictions dinner in December, panelists predicted that tech companies could use their war chests to pick up some technologies on the cheap. And while some of the big names have not made moves yet, some ripples may be forming. Several attorneys I've talked to in recent weeks say they've actually been pretty busy working on "distressed sales." 

Meanwhile, Todd Bishop follows a story today that Microsoft -- sitting on $20.7 billion in cash and equivalents -- is nearing a deal to acquire an Israeli startup by the name of 3DV Systems. (Interestingly, Haaretz.com notes that the $35 million price tag would be less than what the company had raised in venture capital.)

Could we see more of that? Absolutely.  If the venture capital markets remain in a deep freeze, the number of distressed companies on the market will certainly increase.

Right now, however, very few deals are getting one. After all, only 37 venture-backed companies were acquired in the fourth quarter, down from 88 for the same period in 2007, according to the National Venture Capital Association.

“The inability of our strongest companies to go public and the softening of acquisitions activity continue to have a major ripple effect that now reaches every stage of the venture investment lifecycle," said NVCA president Mark Heesen at the time.

But at some point, buyers will come back. And when they do, here are some Seattle area companies to watch that have cash on the books.

Concur: $210 million in cash. In a recent conference call, CEO Steve Singh said the company would look at acquisitions where it makes sense.

RealNetworks: $371 million. The Seattle company has a history of growing through acquisitions, expanding into gaming and mobile.

F5 Networks: $487 million. F5 quietly purchased the assets of Attune Networks, so could other deals be in the works?

Of course, all of these mid-tier tech companies could be buyout candidates themselves if the market turns or if the right offer comes around.

And Seattle's two largest tech companies could jump back into the M&A market too.

As we reported earlier this month, Amazon.com spent $432 million last year buying companies such as Audible, Shelfari and Fabric.com. With plans to continue its lead in cloud computing, Amazon.com could step up its efforts there. It finished the year with $2.8 billion on the books. 

Microsoft, on the other hand, acquired 13 companies last year. But since the economic crisis hit in October, it has been pretty quiet. If the deal with 3DV Systems goes through, it would end a five month M&A drought.

[Indiewench photo via Flickr]