So you've been rather quietly acquiring all private investments in space that you can get your hands on, as fast as you can finance it.

According to Le Soleil, Apple quietly acquired the company in recent weeks, and most of its employees have already moved into offices at Apple's Cupertino headquarters.

One of the country's largest private real estate investment groups quietly acquired the landmark General Motors Building in Manhattan last month, people at G.M. said yesterday.

Since then, she'd gained a lot of influence in China and quietly acquired Indochina from France and the oil-rich East Indies from Holland.

As for drink, the cabinet in the library holding a small stock of wines and spirits also quietly acquired a lock.

Banrock Station shiraz (also known as syrah), a southeastern Australian jewel, has quietly and unsurprisingly acquired a cultish status.

Over the years the museum has been quietly acquiring works by Ellsworth Kelly.

Indeed, even as it was closing or selling some of its big-city papers, it was quietly acquiring replacements in smaller markets such as Midland, Mich., and Laredo, Tex.

The family attempted to gain a controlling interest by quietly acquiring large amounts of stock in the corporation.

In quietly acquiring and subverting these institutions, much as he did with the Australia Council he has held miniature exhibitions in their sanctified spaces.