Carl Icahn has spoken again with Apple Inc’s Tim Cook and plans a longer discussion with the chief executive over dinner next month about the size of the iPhone maker’s buyback program, the activist investor tweeted on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The hedge fund billionaire, known for launching aggressive assaults on American boardrooms, caused a sensation last week when he revealed on Twitter he had taken a large position in Apple and was pushing for the company to expand its program of share buybacks — already one of the market’s largest.<\/p>\n
That revelation, including comments about how he thought the stock was undervalued, pushed shares of the $400 billion corporation up 5 percent on Aug 13.<\/p>\n
But on Thursday, Apple’s stock held steady at about $501.11 in late trade on the Nasdaq, resuming trade after a glitch halted trading in Nasdaq-listed securities for more than two hours.<\/p>\n
Icahn’s tweet on Thursday, which came during the trading suspension, did not reveal much else apart from the fact that he and Cook had made plans for an in-person meeting next month.<\/p>\n
“Spoke to Tim. Planning dinner in September. Tim believes in buyback and is doing one. What will be discussed is magnitude,” the billionaire said on Twitter on Thursday, without elaborating.<\/p>\n
Apple did not respond to requests for comment. In April, the company bowed to Wall Street pressure and said it would return $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015 – double the amount set aside previously. It got there in part by raising its dividend 15 percent and boosting its share buyback program six-fold to $60 billion, one of the largest of its kind<\/p>\n
As part of that program, it bought about more than $16 billion worth of stock in the June quarter, much more than analysts had expected.<\/p>\n
Icahn told Reuters last week that the iPhone, iPad and Mac computer maker has the ability to do a $150 billion buyback now by borrowing funds at 3 percent. And he argued that by increasing its program, Apple’s stock could regain the $700 level it touched in September.<\/p>\n
Icahn, who this year launched strong opposition to Michael Dell’s $25 billion effort to take Dell Inc private, did not say how many shares of Apple he holds.<\/p>\n
A source familiar with the matter, who declined to be named because Icahn hasn’t disclosed his holdings in Apple, said the investor’s stake was worth around $1 billion, a fraction of the company’s market value of more than $400 billion.<\/p>\n
He is the second prominent activist to target Apple this year. The company averted a dispute with hedge fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital, who sued Apple to try to block a proposal regarding voting on preferred shares. Einhorn later withdrew his lawsuit.<\/p>\n
Analysts said Icahn’s interest in Apple helped cement improving sentiment on the stock, as investors began to anticipate a new line-up of gadgets in the fall, including possibly a cheaper iPhone that can spearheard a deeper drive into fast-growing emerging markets.<\/p>\n
Speculation has also persisted that the company may be planning some sort of TV or smartwatch product – worn on the user’s wrist – in the near future.<\/p>\n
Cook said last month there will be products “in new categories” but gave no details.<\/p>\n
Out with Apple, in with Tesla<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Apple sells more iPhones than expected<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n