“The fact that Apple closed out last week at the lowest point it has since June of 2014 is not news to any long-suffering shareholder,” Jay Somaney writes for Forbes. “Is there anything that can move the shares higher going forward given this huge pall of gloom that has descended on Apple’s shares?”
“There is a lot that Tim Cook and management can do that could get shareholders, existing and those considering an investment in Apple, really excited fairly quickly,” Somaney writes. “First and foremost, is to stop the relentless selling or using the shares in lieu of cash or otherwise disposing of or decreasing ownership by top management… More importantly, maybe Tim Cook, Angela Ahrendts, Luca Maestri, Phil Schiller and the rest of top management at the company can buy 1 or 2 shares with their own money. I am pretty sure they can afford it, no?”
“After all if the future is so bright (I gotta wear shades) as Tim Cook says it is, those shares they buy (not holding my breath) should be worth a lot more down the road than they are at present,” Somaney writes. “Second, is that Tim Cook should find a way to buy Netflix or Tesla and step aside as CEO of Apple and let Reed Hastings or Elon Musk take the top job at CEO. Cook can go back to his head of operations/supply chain management role, a role [at which] he is probably one of the best in the world.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Having management put their money where their mouths are isn’t bad idea, but buying a large company is a signal that your company can’t come up with their own ideas. Apple is perfectly capable of taking on Netflix and/or Tesla without having to buy them, deal with integrating their employees, etc.
Calling for Tim Cook to be replaced with Reed Hastings? Seriously?
We have to admit, an Apple with Elon Musk as CEO and Tim Cook as COO would be intriguing (it’d certainly be a boon when it comes time for media events), but how many CEOs of the world’s most valuable companies have ever stepped down to work uner someone else again? Ain’t gonna happen, so no sense wasting time imagining it.
Read this article and see if you would want Musk to be running Apple.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-supports-his-business-empire-with-unusual-financial-moves-1461781962
apple is in a world of hurt and can’t recognize it simply because they are themselves the core problem. they are overpaid narcsassic vision impared middle managers at the helm. I would not want to be at sea with Tim Cook in command continually say he is ‘really really optimistic’ rather than offering strategic thinking.
Apple sucks!… Cool. Maybe they should do things like Samsung or Dell and lose tons of money, cause…. that is so much better than making money. Right.
Maybe they should quit making so much profit and just sell stuff as cheaply as possible cause that worked so well for Dell (sold the company and gave the money (what was left) back to the share holders). Just saying.
These people who post (unregistered) and bitch with no facts, data or real suggestions that will work in the real world make me wonder what they do in real life.??? Live in their mothers basement and play games on supped up game machines???
Maybe they would like to elect Trump as King so he can deliver on his wild promises. Cause Wild is the only thing we want.
Right??
They could be a little less repetitive, and a little more creative, in their criticisms — they’d be more widely appreciated.
For example, Apple shouldn’t be messing around with cars! Instead, they should buy Segway Inc.! Introduced in 2001, the Segway personal transport vehicle was widely hailed as the next big thing — as big as the PC, according to Steve Jobs…until he saw the thing, and said its design sucked.
The Segway’s problem is that people riding around on it look like dorks. Apple’s unique design sensibility and marketing pizazz could change all that. With endorsements from celeb users like Steve Wozniak and Justin Bieber, and promoted at the next WWDC and with glossy spreads in Vogue, all the gadgeteers and fashionistas would want one. The accessory after-market alone could be huge. In six months they could very well eclipse recumbent bicycles…but even if sales failed to take off, Apple would own the mall cop market segment.
/s
Tim Cook sucks!… Cool. I guess wild promises and talk of space travel and hyper drive and just smoke and mirrors is where they want the CEO of Apple to go!! ?????
Just what are these people smoking….. and where can I get some???
I have to wonder if samsung is still paying trolls to hate Apple (unregistered ones at that)???
They say Apple is in a bad spot cause the stock price is down but never look at any other factors. They hate Tim cause he believes in people and is not a bleeding racist. What is wrong with these people???
Maybe they would like to elect Trump as King so he can deliver on his wild promises. Cause Wild is the only thing we want.
Right??
Retards will always be retar ded
“And we’re actually surprised at where Apple is now?”
I am SO pissed about where Apple is — biggest company on the planet, probably more profitable than Microscum, Samcopy and Gaagle put together. Bloody losers!
The fact of the matter is, any tech company in this world would love to have Cook as a CEO. What these pundits and reporters fail to acknowledge is that the bar was set really, really high by Jobs. People will eventually see what a great manager and visionary Steve Jobs really was- he was truly a once-in-a-lifetime leader. In the meantime, it’s unfair to hold Cook, and by extension Apple, to the same standard that was set while Jobs was at the helm. Worse case scenario, Apple is just as good as Google, Microsoft, FaceBook and Amazon, even though Apple just crushed the aforementioned in revenue and profit during their most recent ‘terrible and awful’ quarter.
I agree, jdoc, that no one can replace Steve Jobs. But, within reason, I believe that Apple should continue to strive towards the ideals championed by SJ. The key is in maintaining a clear and uncorrupted vision of those goals. The risk is allowing the vision to get twisted and gradually steering the company away from the desired path. Also, no one can embody SJ. Cook and future leaders have to find their own ways of maintaining the vision and charting the future course of the company.
KingMel, Actually I think Apple does strive to follow Steve Jobs thinking. His direction, not his actual steps.
Steve Jobs told Tim Cook, before he died, to not do what Steve would do, but to just do what is right.
Steve put Apple university in place to teach the whole top management what the right direction was. I think its working.
The whore Street specialists don’t care about what is right, they only care about greed, right now, who cares what happens later…
I agree, elder norm. That supports the point that I was trying to make – follow the vision, but not be trying to be SJ. The warning that I provided is with respect to maintaining the continuity and purity of that vision. Just like a language, over time the Apple vision will tend to evolve. And that is not necessarily a bad thing as long as the core principles are preserved – strive towards making great products (say “no” to ideas that are merely good), focus on the user experience and customer service, making money is secondary (but will happen on its own if you take care of the rest).
I would love to See Elon Musk take the CEO spot of Apple and expand TSLA globally with Apples cash hoard. The world would be a better place.
I See what you mean. Nah.
Tesla is nothing but a coal powered range limited electric car. If not for Gubbermint subsidies the car would be even more profit challenged!!
In my opinion, you are short-sighted, Bill. Tesla represents one aspect of the future of ground transportation. Since the early 1980s, I have been convinced that electric drive was the future of ground transportation. The limiting factor was (and remains) energy storage. Hybrids get around the problem by linking a fossil fuel-powered engine to the electric drivetrain. Another method is to utilize a fuel cell. Tesla represents the third leg – pure plug-in electric.
Current ICE vehicles benefit from many decades of investment in design and infrastructure. If you started with a clean sheet today, I doubt that ICE would win against electric. Consider the massive infrastructure needed to support ICE transportation – supertankers, pipelines, ports, refineries, gas stations… Decades of investments to make it easy and convenient to fill up your car with a relatively volatile and dangerous liquid. That sunk cost provides ICE with an inherent advantage – a massive barrier to entry for competitors.
Like many ideas in history, Tesla is a little ahead of its time in some respects. But I give Musk a lot of credit for pushing the envelope in electric transportation and space transportation.
Can Tim Cook and company raise the shroud over Apple shares? —> No of course not. Apple’s approach is global, it values peace. Whore Street’s approach is national and in this case war and torture is the patriotic way. It’s in their DNA (Destructive Nuclear Arsenal).
“Is there anything that can move the shares higher going forward given this huge pall of gloom that has descended on Apple’s shares?” —> Sure a good dose on integrity morality and ethics infused into jouranalists and wall street whores would do the trick. Again it’s a question of values, they see the low points of Apple and others see it as “Hey it’s worth $90.00 or so, that’s a lot better than ten cents, which would be its worth if they did not have a good leader at the helm.
Musk is a brilliant engineer. Great on ideas and very inspirational.
Teslas are fantastic but the company cannot meet demand. Apple was like that 15 years ago.
Cook is an operational powerhouse. He solved Apple’s production issues and enabled them to be able to grow such that they can ship 100 million units a quarter.
Apple make huge profits. Tesla is still in the red and likely to be for years.
The reason Apple does not perform well in the market is that they do not court the financial community like Amazon does and they do not pre-release products or hype the stock.
Will Apple get out of it’s doldrums? Only if the market perceive future growth potential.
Is it really true that cook, ahrendts and other top manager are selling aapl stock like there’s no tomorrow? This is the 2nd article that mentions this and I would like for some real analysis – how much did these guys used to sell when aapl was at its highs and how much they selling now. Maybe its the same rate but now people are noticing coz stock is at its lows….or is it that they really expect things to go further south and so they are selling it as fast as they can? Whats FUD whats the truth. Anyone have some real data other than just feelings – positive or negative?
Most of the time stocks options are sold to pay for the cost of the options vested and any taxes due. If the option price is significantly lower than the current, you can pay for the stock and the taxes and essentially the remainder is free shares. Alternatively, if the option price is lower than the share price it can be a way to reduce capital gains on other shares sales.
When you have huge options like this it can be very useful way to manage your income.
I’m long AAPL and certainly not suffering because of it. Oh, Forbes still sucks big time, just like the National Enquirer.
I have followed AAPL for 16 years. Every Spring the stock is low and columnists are saying “Apple’s Gonna Die!” Enery September the same columnists are saying “Apple is Soaring!” Every year. Every year. Every year. As for me, I’m getting $20,000 in dividends every year.
Where were you september of 2015 and the fall when iphone5 got introduced?
It appears that the general consensus is that no one agrees who might perform better than Tim Cook as CEO of Apple. This is hardly a rousing endorsement for Cook. Tim Cook’s ascension to the throne wasn’t entirely obvious to me. I can’t see why some other person yet unknown could not also be chosen.
Get headhunting! Shooting from the comfort of an armchair is ridiculous.
What is the largest annual profit Elon Musk has ever produced (with no assistance from government subsidies)?
Total crap idea, Jay Somaney who writes for Forbes
…Tim Cook should find a way to buy Netflix or Tesla and step aside as CEO of Apple and let Reed Hastings or Elon Musk take the top job at CEO.
Meanwhile, I get the idea that Apple is NOT strategically buying back its own shares. The entire point of that process is to buoy, if not skyrocket, the price of AAPL. What’s going on over there Apple?
Only in America would somebody write something as stupid as this article because of one quarter. Apple was not the world’s most valuable company when Tim took over. It still is even after a bad quarter.
But the schmuck that wrote this article who knows how to do invent only stupid implausible scenarios thinks he’s a big genius. He will have to eat his words but it will be a couple of years.