Investor Carl Icahn to Meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday, September 30

[oliversl]

People wants Apple cash, and big investor and hedge fund are the ones that can manipulate Apple stock price for their own benefit. Its all legal, otherwise they would be in jail.
Public company? Yes, but at the will of groups with big stock numbers.

 

[litmag01]

Whatever you say about him it has to include that he is very good at the stock game.

 

[IJ Reilly]

You're correct. However he still has the ability to spread influence with other high investors, and could be a problem for Apple if they start meeting his demands. This needs nipping in the bud now before he starts expecting Apple to bend its business around his interests.

Not a likely scenario. By other "high investors" I presume you mean institutional investors. They are as wary of Icahn as anyone. As an individual AAPL investor, even though I am also wary of Icahn, I am also grateful that he has raised the question of AAPL's valuation and contributed to changing the narrative on the stock.

 

[RawBert]

Emperor iCahn

 

[GadgetDon]

Icahn is a stockholder, and like all stockholders he is legally a partial owner of the company. Stockholders in the aggregate are Tim's boss. Insofar as Icahn's interests are in line with other stockholder's interests, such as wanting for Apple to pay out their unused mountain of cash, Apple should be listening to him very carefully, and doing the best they can for their owners.

Except Icahn's history shows he has no interest in the health of the company, he jumps into companies others have built and tries to drain as many assets out of them as he can no matter what it does to the company after he's got his out.

And while that can be good for Icahn and other quick buck artists, it's usually very bad for long term investors. No company was ever left better off after Icahn got involved.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I think this is weird. This guy keeps having regular meetings with Tim Cook. What sets him apart from other shareholders (except that he owns probably a lot more shares than anyone)? This has a smell of insider trading to me. Or am I alone in this ?

I own 4 shares of Apple but I don't think I can just pop in and schedule a meeting.

This is Icahn's only known meeting with Tim Cook. Other large stockholders probably also get face time with Cook, only we don't hear about it.

 

[jmh600cbr]

Kk

 

[wrkactjob]

Before people start circlejerking....

Goodness me.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Except Icahn's history shows he has no interest in the health of the company, he jumps into companies others have built and tries to drain as many assets out of them as he can no matter what it does to the company after he's got his out.

And while that can be good for Icahn and other quick buck artists, it's usually very bad for long term investors. No company was ever left better off after Icahn got involved.

Icahn's history as a corporate raider is irrelevant in this instance. He has no chance of being more than a small minority stockholder.

Yes, he's trying to make money. This is why people invest in stock. Smart people, anyway.

 

[Battlefield Fan]

A bubble based on what? Trailing P/E? Future P/E? Future EPS? Certainly you have some figures to back up your opinion that AAPL at $487 is a bubble waiting to burst. Can you somehow spin that 9 million iPhones sold as being a sign of the bubble bursting? Or that Apple revised it's guidance up, and we know they always beat their own guidance?

They're going to burst when people start moving away from the iPhone, which will happen by 2017. The iPhone as a product doesn't have more of a lifespan than 10 years. All speculation but I think very plausible. People only live in the moment, which your comments reflect.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Icahn is a part owner of the company, as are you. Tim should meet with all the owners. Except Icahn owns 500,000 times as much as you, so he gets to go ahead of you on line. With your four shares, you might be able to get on Tim's calendar sometime in 2173.

Being a stockholder of any size gets you into the annual meeting, should you choose to make the trip.

 

[GadgetDon]

Icahn's history as a corporate raider is irrelevant in this instance. He has no chance of being more than a small minority stockholder.

Yes, he's trying to make money. This is why people invest in stock. Smart people, anyway.

He may be a stockholder, but he's not investor. He doesn't buy stock in companies expecting they will grow and get better - he buys stock in companies expecting he'll be able to screw the company and the other investors out of as many assets as possible.

 

[giantfan1224]

They're going to burst when people start moving away from the iPhone, which will happen by 2017. The iPhone as a product doesn't have more of a lifespan than 10 years. All speculation but I think very plausible. People only live in the moment, which your comments reflect.

I'll be sure to liquidate my position in AAPL by 2017. Thanks for the tip!

 

[zgh1999]

How droll, but I doubt this is intentional satire.

If you equate a bigger screen with innovation, I doubt you've ever endeavored to be innovative.

Who says bigger screen size is innovation? If anything, you are the one who suggested that.

My point was precisely that Apple cannot even get past its fixation with screen size, LET ALONE INNOVATE.

 

[SusanK]

Cook is weak. He needs to go.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Makes no sense - waste of cash. If you want to return $$ to shareholders - which they should - issue a special dividend of $20 a share so that current shareholders actually see the ROI.

Spending that same amount on a buyback does NOT translate to the "decreased supply of shares = higher share price" that many are touting.

It does result in increased EPS, which will result in a higher stock price, provided the multiples hold up.

----------

He may be a stockholder, but he's not investor. He doesn't buy stock in companies expecting they will grow and get better - he buys stock in companies expecting he'll be able to screw the company and the other investors out of as many assets as possible.

He's got no power to do this with Apple. This was the take away point.

 

[Technarchy]

They're going to burst when people start moving away from the iPhone, which will happen by 2017. The iPhone as a product doesn't have more of a lifespan than 10 years. All speculation but I think very plausible. People only live in the moment, which your comments reflect.

Unless a highly disruptive technology comes along the iPhone has an indefinite long term viability.

And even when that disruptive technology happens, Apple has a history of doing that disruptive technology better than anyone else, packaging it better than anyone else, and marketing it better than anyone else.

 

[mlmwalt]

As a shareholder, I'd like to be there too. Why should Icahn be privy to info that I won't? And I've had my position a lot longer than him.

 

[GadgetDon]

As a shareholder, I'd like to be there too. Why should Icahn be privy to info that I won't? And I've had my position a lot longer than him.

Because Icahn wants no witnesses as he explains to Cook "Nice company you've got here. Shame if anything happened to it."

 

[Battlefield Fan]

Unless a highly disruptive technology comes along the iPhone has an indefinite long term viability.

And even when that disruptive technology happens, Apple has a history of doing that disruptive technology better than anyone else, packaging it better than anyone else, and marketing it better than anyone else.

Whats happened to iPod sales? Steve isn't around so their history of beating everyone to the boat doesn't matter anymore. Apple can design garbage cans and add finger print scanners without Steve.

 

[GadgetDon]

Whats happened to iPod sales? Steve isn't around so their history of beating everyone to the boat doesn't matter anymore. Apple can design garbage cans and add finger print scanners without Steve.

Yeah, with Steve, every three to six years, Apple completely upended a new market. Now, three years have passed without upending a new market. Apple is DOOOOOOMMMMEEEEDDDDD.

 

[giantfan1224]

Whats happened to iPod sales?

iPhones are iPods too. iPhones sales have never been better. So there's that.

 

[Technarchy]

Whats happened to iPod sales? Steve isn't around so their history of beating everyone to the boat doesn't matter anymore. Apple can design garbage cans and add finger print scanners without Steve.

What happened to the iPod was the iPhone and iPad. It's not as if anyone came in and usurped Apple's position.

Apple cannibalized itself, and to quote Jobs, the iPhone is the best iPod every made.

 

[paradox00]

They're going to burst when people start moving away from the iPhone, which will happen by 2017. The iPhone as a product doesn't have more of a lifespan than 10 years. All speculation but I think very plausible. People only live in the moment, which your comments reflect.

Yes, all speculation, with not a shred of evidence to back that speculation up. Why are people going to move away from the iPhone by 2017? What will iOS look like in 2017? What will the iPhone look like in 2017? What other markets will Apple have penetrated by 2017? OS X is over 10 years old; if 10 is such a magical number, why aren't Mac sales declining?

You don't have any of these answers. Before speculating, try to come up with some reasons to back that speculation up. I don't really want to see a market share chart either. The smartphone market is growing rapidly, so you can have sales growth with declining share, and Apple's pretty good at carving the most profitable niche out of a market.

 

[deconstruct60]

This guy wants to make money on his investment? The horror!!

It is not the horror that Ichan wants to get a return. It is the horror that he could give crap about the company. If getting his money means throwing the company under the bus, he is going to be for throwing the company under the bus.

It is not too significantly different that a Mafia protection racket. "You need to funnel money into my pockets or your business life might happen to run into drama/trouble". If he was actually contributing something in return, but he really isn't. He should get more money largely because he has a big pile of money. Yeah horror is in there. Once Ichan has siphoned off a nice chunk of Apple's cash stockpile he'd be off to siphon off some other company's cash.