“Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook defended the company’s distribution of cash to its shareholders and called the proxy fight a proposal requiring shareholder approval before the consumer electronics maker can issue preferred stock a ‘silly sideshow,’” George Stahl and Thomas Gryta report for The Wall Street Journal. “Last week, hedge fund manager David Einhorn sued Apple in a New York federal court, arguing that the shareholder proposal could limit how the company could return some of its $137 billion cash pile to investors.”

“At a Goldman Sachs GS +1.02% technology conference Tuesday, Mr. Cook said Mr. Einhorn’s idea of distributing a ‘perpetual preferred’ stock that could pay a dividend yield of 4% was ‘creative’ and worth investigating,” Stahl and Gryta report. “However, he said, Apple’s proxy proposal wouldn’t prevent that from happening because the company would seek shareholder approval on any such move anyway.”

Stahl and Gryta report, “The CEO noted that the company is returning $45 billion to shareholders through a combination of dividends and buybacks. ‘Apple doesn’t have a depression-era mentality,’ he said in response to criticism that Apple is hoarding its money.”

Read more in the full article here.

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