After taking an undisclosed “large position” in Apple last month, rumored to be in excess of $1B, prominent investor Carl Icahn said he thinks Apple and CEO Tim Cook should do a larger buyback. Now, following a scheduled meeting with Tim Cook in New York yesterday, Icahn says he “pushed hard for a 150 billion buyback” during a “cordial dinner”:
While Apple announced earlier this year that it would return around $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015 as part of its $60 billion buyback program and increased dividend, Icahn previously told Reuters he thinks Apple is capable of doing a $150 billion buyback by borrowing the money at 3 percent:
Had a cordial dinner with Tim last night. We pushed hard for a 150 billion buyback. We decided to continue dialogue in about three weeks.
— Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) October 1, 2013
As noted in his tweet above, Icahn says he will resume talks with Cook regarding the buyback in three weeks.
Update: we’ve embedded the CEO’s conversations on video to CNBC below:
Icahn: “CFO got a little bit testy”
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 1, 2013
Icahn will need a really big “highly confident letter” from Jefferies for an AAPL LBO
Icahn’s chef made dinner for him and Cook … won’t talk about the menu though!
— Julianne Pepitone (@julpepitone) October 1, 2013
Icahn: Apple stock is “a no brainer, it’s an almost absurd price relative to the market.” – CNBC. $AAPL
— Tim Bradshaw (@tim) October 1, 2013
