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Carl Icahn's Stake in Apple Passes $3 Billion Amid Continued Stock Buyback Pressure
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Not nearly as much as you think. Jobs' personal wealth was in Pixar and Disney. AAPL is over half owned by institutional shareholders (62% per Yahoo). Not really sure if that includes Icahn's 1% or not, but as has been said, he's not real close to any sort of individual control. Just his history throws some weight behind his statements and requests.
Greed, in the end, ruin's it, and people like this have so much money that it buy's them what ever and when ever.
Manipulation
Manipulation
Buybacks increase everyone's share of earnings, which was my main point. Every stockholder's stake increases proportionally when shares are repurchased, so it works equally well for large and small stockholders. I don't see Icahn getting to more than 2% of AAPL and probably not even that much. That level of holding may get him a power lunch with Tim Cook, but it doesn't buy him a seat on the Board of Directors or any other special influence.
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They are doing nothing with the money. If they'd been doing something with it, the cash hoard would not have grown by a factor of eight in about five years. This is arithmetic, not a sprint or a marathon.
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Scary. Most major acquisitions and mergers work out badly. Yahoo in particular is a boat anchor. If Apple was even hinted at buying Yahoo, you could watch the stock take a dive.
This typifies the short-termism of the exceedingly rich who greedily and relentlessly seek more money. And for what? Why does a billionaire need more money?
For those of you who see Apple's 'hoard' as 'dead money', there are two kinds of opportunity cost: The first is the opportunity cost of not making a profit today. The second is the opportunity of a company failing in the long run by not making major investments. Of course stockholders worry about the former, because they can bail out by selling their stocks before a company goes bankrupt. From the perspective of the people who work for the company, and of the people who enjoy the company's products, therein lies the problem.
And I can't believe that somebody actually sided with a billionaire in a post above...
For those of you who see Apple's 'hoard' as 'dead money', there are two kinds of opportunity cost: The first is the opportunity cost of not making a profit today. The second is the opportunity of a company failing in the long run by not making major investments. Of course stockholders worry about the former, because they can bail out by selling their stocks before a company goes bankrupt. From the perspective of the people who work for the company, and of the people who enjoy the company's products, therein lies the problem.
And I can't believe that somebody actually sided with a billionaire in a post above...
A part of me wants AAPL share price to decline dramatically, just so Icahn can lose million$!
Mark
Mark
This typifies the short-termism of the exceedingly rich who greedily and relentlessly seek more money. And for what? Why does a billionaire need more money?
For those of you who see Apple's 'hoard' as 'dead money', there are two kinds of opportunity cost: The first is the opportunity cost of not making a profit today. The second is the opportunity of a company failing in the long run by not making major investments. Of course stockholders worry about the former, because they can bail out by selling their stocks before a company goes bankrupt. From the perspective of the people who work for the company, and of the people who enjoy the company's products, therein lies the problem.
And I can't believe that somebody actually sided with a billionaire in a post above...
Talking about Apple becoming unprofitable. Scary. Apple currently earns about a billion a week. For the cash to be of operational significance, that profit would need to evaporate. Nice prediction. Got any others? Go ahead, make our day.
Apple already has more than enough cash to invest in growth. Far more, obviously.
This non-billionaire is grateful for Icahn throwing his support behind the stock, but that's probably because I am an actual Apple stockholder who stands to benefit. Unlike probably nearly everyone else commenting here, investors put their money where their mouth is. I will side with who is right, and who has something to gain or lose, so I will not side with you or anyone else who makes uninformed statements and probably isn't an actual stakeholder besides.
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How? Insert theories here: ____________
It's an extremely volatile and expensive industry to be in. Take a look at Blackberry, for example. They were caught off guard by competitors' innovation and didn't have the resources to catch up in time.
So Apple's growth is not hindered by limits on the ability to make chips, touchID buttons and screens? Seems to me like they would make more money if they invested in production, which is expensive.
As a long-time customer who enjoys Apple's products and who has invested through hardware and software purchases in the Apple ecosystem, I also have a stake in Apple's success. My stake is also based on the fact that I am a US citizen, and I do not want yet another successful US company run into the ground by self-defeating self-centered short-sightedness. If Icahn were arguing for increased dividends then I would be sympathetic, because at least that would be making money without engaging in speculation.
Also, you put your money where your mouth is. That is to say you gambled. Should we respect your opinion more than, say, somebody who plays roulette? You take risks, gamblers take risks. They are functionally equivalent.
It wasn't a lack of money. They had plenty. It was a lack of innovation that sunk them.
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Apple has invested in production, and they still have $150B left over, and that total has rocketed upwards every quarter for years. Most of their investments (that we know about) are in the hundreds of millions department, IOW, the kind of money Apple made while I was typing this. I think the problem is with a comprehension of the scale of a $150B hoard, or $1B they add to it every week.
I interpret your other remarks as agreement that you have neither the knowledge nor the stake in the outcome to have your opinions taken seriously. Investing is only gambling to the people who don't do it. It's their lame excuse.
Oh hey. Hadnt considered that. I think I liked him better when it was all about money. Im not really aware of what hes done with companies like Dell in the past, any insights?
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But surely a huge pile of cash would have given them a little bit more cushion of time within which to innovate? Im not saying it would have kept them out of the black abyss theyre in now, but it might have given them another chance or two to figure out how they were going to climb back out.
Carl Icahn and Apple - looks like he's out to destroy another Company
It appears everyone seems to forget what Icahn has done to historical companies, such as US Steel, Mylan Labs or TWA just to name a few. He took down TWA and ruined the lives countless American families and bankrupt countless small businesses. Look at his track record, look at what he has wanted to do with Biogen - which would do nothing more than destroy another Company and the people who work there. If he is allowed to dig deep enough into Apple, he will destroy it as well. He has been nothing more than a corporate raider, taken someone else's hard work, destroying them all the while profiting from his force.
Wouldn't it be nice to see Apple crush Icahns 3 billion investment before he ruins another great innovating company?
It appears everyone seems to forget what Icahn has done to historical companies, such as US Steel, Mylan Labs or TWA just to name a few. He took down TWA and ruined the lives countless American families and bankrupt countless small businesses. Look at his track record, look at what he has wanted to do with Biogen - which would do nothing more than destroy another Company and the people who work there. If he is allowed to dig deep enough into Apple, he will destroy it as well. He has been nothing more than a corporate raider, taken someone else's hard work, destroying them all the while profiting from his force.
Wouldn't it be nice to see Apple crush Icahns 3 billion investment before he ruins another great innovating company?
I don't know much about this guy, but he's starting to sound almost as bad as George Soros.
Shareholders do not own Apple at all. Shareholders don't even have a say in how Apple is run as a business as Icahn is finding out.
This snippet sums it up reasonably well:
"In legal terms, shareholders dont own the corporation (they own securities that give them a less-than-well-defined claim on its earnings). In law and practice, they dont have final say over most big corporate decisions (boards of directors do)."
Question:
Why isn't Apple doing more with their money? Wouldn't that be the quickest way to shut this guy up?
Why isn't Apple doing more with their money? Wouldn't that be the quickest way to shut this guy up?