Carl Icahn: I don't want to fight with Tim... but I will Investment guru Carl Icahn says he doesn't want to fight with the management of Apple, but he won't abandon his sizeable financial concern in the firm either. Icahn has been trying to get Apple to give some of its cash mountain to shareholders by buying back $150bn worth of shares and has been meeting with chief Tim Cook to …
"That is something I would… never even think of telling Tim Cook," he said, according to Reuters. "It has zero to do with the fact that I'm involved with Apple."
Surely it has everything to do with the fact he's involved with apple. If a main investor in one company convinced another company (where he is also an investor) to purchase the first company, could that not ring a number legal issues? IANAL
Anonymous Coward of 11:47 GMT, in the US, that situation would only be of legal concern to that main investor if his advice were based on non-public information. If his advice were based solely on information available to the general public, then no legal issues would be involved. I don’t know if the situation would be the same for a UK-based main investor.
I'm guessing that the reason he's not investing in Microsoft is that he doesn't think they'll listen to him at all. Just wait for there to be a new CEO and I suspect he'll magically get some stocks and try to leverage those against the CEO.
Then again he may also be looking at the fact that Bill Gates, Steve Balmer, and more are large share holders in microsoft so they'll quickly point out any padded whining waffle he happens to spout to try and increase his share value short term.
I don't know where he gets this idea from. Apple has almost no cash available. In fact, it had to raise money from bonds to pay its dividend. All the cash Apple is hoarding is overseas, and Apple cannot bring it back into the US without paying tax on it.
What Icahn is proposing is borrowing money on the basis of future presumed returns, and give that money to investors. It's kind of the reverse of investing for the future.
Apple does have huge stockpiles of cash 'hidden' away in 'tax efficient' shell companies around the globe.
The bond issue was just the latest tax evasion tactic they used to prevent themselves from paying even a tiny amount of their tax that would otherwise been due....
From the looks of things, it isn't the size of his current holding which makes him trouble, it is the manner in which he whips up a sizable 'gang' of other shareholders to also put pressure on. 'Activist' investor sums him up very well. TBH, he is the epitome of capitalism. I think Dell dealt with him pretty well.
If Steve Jobs was still around, I wonder if he would have given him the time of day? I think not.
Icahn isn't stupid. He knows that. That's why he didn't bother with Apple until after Steve had popped his clogs.
Tim isn't stupid either. He's not going to give Icahn what he wants, he's just being polite because being polite doesn't cost him anything and potentially avoids a very public fight.
""I am very cautious on equities today. This market could easily have a big drop," he said.
"Very simplistically put, a lot of the earnings are a mirage. They are not coming because the companies are well run but because of low interest rates.""
Well, this is one thing that's right. Twitter, Pinterest, Dropbox...
Carl is actually ringing the bell for another stock collapse. Companies like Apple and others should pay dividends. That is the reason people invest in companies, for a payoff. So much is made of stock price which is totally irrational. Anyone that actually believes Apple is the most valuable company on the planet might reconsider if the electricity went out for week or more. Then water and petrol would be more valuable. You can always eat your (unfortunate) neighbor, but water is essential. energy sources are essential for civilization. While on one hand, the i(product of choice) is a fancy toy, it is very useful in civilized society.
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