back to article Icahn rallies the troops to pump Apple for cash at next shareholder meeting

Wall Street tycoon Carl Icahn hasn't given up on his quest to have Apple return some of its $150bn cash stockpile to investors, and he now wants Cupertino's shareholders to vote on the idea. Icahn has spent the last few months pestering Apple CEO Tim Cook to spend the company's cash reserves on a stock buyback program that …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Will Godfrey Silver badge

    I was going to ask "Is there no limit to the man's greed?" but I guess I know the answer already.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Icahn loves him a nice big steaming pile...

    ...of Irish off-shore tax avoidance.

  3. Snowy Silver badge

    Yes there is a nice big cash reserve but if it is offshore they can not use it to buy share until they pay taxes on it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes, they can. Use it as collateral on debt used to buy back the stock and then take a tax write down on that debt.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        The debt still has to be paid back, so if the US based profit stream can't support that, they'll need to bring in and pay taxes on overseas earnings. TANSTAAFL.

        Authorizing debt lets you get at the money now, and leaves the task of repatriating cash for later. Icahn is all about making a quick buck and moving on to his next target, so of course he takes the short term view, and would love Apple to take on $300 billion in debt and leave them exposed to bankruptcy down the road if sales fell due to changing markets and future profits weren't quite enough to keep up with their debt payments.

        He's not dumb enough to ask for that because it would be clear what he's doing, but if he is able to push a vote and get it passed, he'll go back for more and more until he's shot down, then he'll sell his Apple shares and move on to his next target.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Good summary!

          As an Apple Shareholder I will be voting against this should it come up on the agenda in the meeting. I might even fly over and attend in person to voice my opinion of Mr Carpetbagger.

          You can be sure that once he has finished with Apple he will move on to another victim (sorry company) and subject it to his financial pillaging. Where too next? Microsoft? Probably not but Cisco, Oracle and even IBM could be in his sights.

  4. Hud Dunlap
    Flame

    Where was Icahn when Apple needed money?

    He didn't invest in the company when it needed cash. He is what used to be called a sundowner. A tramp who showed up at sundown hoping to get a meal without doing any work for it.

    I still don't understand how he has so much power when he has so little stock.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Where was Icahn when Apple needed money?

      He doesn't have any real power, other than name recognition. If I won the lottery (20 times in a row) and had $2.6 billion to buy Apple stock, I wouldn't have anyone writing articles about what I thought Apple should do, or get private meetings with Tim Cook, because I haven't been doing this for 30 years like he has.

      But maybe if I did it for a couple decades I'd be well known and The Reg would write about me trying to get Elon Musk Jr. to borrow a bunch of money to pay out more of the profits from Fusion Powered Flying Cars, Inc.

  5. kain preacher

    and the next company is ?

    Spins the wheel to seethe next company Ichan want's to screw over.

  6. Toothpick
    Facepalm

    And I read...

    .. one word in his tweet as "predatory"

  7. The MaJiK Man

    Gecko returns

    I totally agree with this greedy old man. Let Apple buy back all his shares for the same price he paid for them. That seems evidently fair to Apple and not to this Gecko type investor.

    Greed is good!!

    Get a Mac, get a life.

  8. Darryl

    Poor Carl... He's used to being a big, important shareholder and having a real voice in how the company pays him off arranges buybacks and dividends. Now he's involved in a huge company where his multi-billion dollar investment still only qualifies him as a bit player.

  9. VAX Wizard

    Misspelled "predatory"

    I've watched Ichahn's actions for years.

    I can only conclude "predatory" has been misspelled.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like