Icahn: Cook still studying buyback proposal
Carl Icahn tells CNBC he recently had a "good conversation" with Tim Cook, and that the Apple CEO is still studying Icahn's $150B buyback proposal.
Three weeks ago, Icahn disclosed his Apple stake had risen to 4.7M shares (worth $2.4B), and said he would "test the waters" regarding a proxy fight if his calls for a bigger buyback were ignored. The following week, Cook stated any changes to Apple's capital allocation plan would be announced early next year.
Apple currently has $146.8B in cash/investments on its balance sheet, but only $35.5B of that is in the U.S. Thanks to a debt offering made earlier this year to help finance its existing back efforts, long-term debt stands at $16.9B. It's much much cheaper for Apple to borrow money at present interest rates than to repatriate the foreign held cash to execute the present buyback plan.
Carl Icahn tells CNBC he recently had a "good conversation" with Tim Cook, and that the Apple CEO is still studying Icahn's $150B buyback proposal.
Three weeks ago, Icahn disclosed his Apple stake had risen to 4.7M shares (worth $2.4B), and said he would "test the waters" regarding a proxy fight if his calls for a bigger buyback were ignored. The following week, Cook stated any changes to Apple's capital allocation plan would be announced early next year.
Apple currently has $146.8B in cash/investments on its balance sheet, but only $35.5B of that is in the U.S. Thanks to a debt offering made earlier this year to help finance its existing back efforts, long-term debt stands at $16.9B. It's much much cheaper for Apple to borrow money at present interest rates than to repatriate the foreign held cash to execute the present buyback plan.
