“Let’s face it. Dividends are nice, but they aren’t really cool,” Therese Poletti writes for MarketWatch. “Intel Corp. and Microsoft pay them. But they still are not typically associated with cool growth companies, and they certainly were an anathema to Apple’s famous co-founder Steve Jobs, who never reinstituted Apple’s dividend after he returned to the near- bankrupt company.”
“So why in the world is Wall Street clamoring for Apple — basking in the glow of last week’s “most valuable company in the world” status — to start paying one? Apple’s stock recently hit a new high of $526.29, which is up 24.15% from January and up 40.3% year-over-year,” Poletti writes. “Because its cash pile, now reaching $100 billion in cash and marketable securities, has become a mountain investors can no longer ignore.”
Poletti writes, “Under Jobs, who was perhaps shaken by Apple’s close brush with insolvency, the company has had a culture of conserving its cash… Investors though, have noticed a slight change in tone. The comments by CEO Tim Cook last week and by chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer last month indicate that the cash pile is now also looming large with the Apple board, which is discussing its options… ‘Instituting a regular dividend would be a signal of a new maturity in the way the company views itself,” James Post, a professor whose specialities include corporate governance at Boston University’s School of Management, said. ‘That would be a much bigger statement of change for the company. I think there is probably a debate going on.’ And the ghosts of CEOs past are clearly in the room… Post said a special dividend could be an interim solution for the company.”
Read more in the full article here.
Don’t do it mon!!!
just my $0.02
If you have a point, just state it and don’t weaken it by ending with a retraction “just my $0.02″. Stand up for what you believe or don’t bother saying it.
He thinks it’s a cool way to end his posts. Like it’s “his thing”.
Ray, friend to friend it’s annoying as hell.
And if you’re going to do it, “My 2¢” is the proper way to do it.
Yeah, two hundredths of a dollars just doesn’t have any zing to it.
Special Dividend,why? Do not see it!
iTunes store credit or nothing at all.
I can see your retirement plan trying to cash in all those iTunes cards!
LOL! (I hate that phrase, but here, for once it applies!)
“Post said a special dividend could be an interim solution for the company.”
Solution to what? lol. There is no problem here that needs to be solved. When Tim Cook stated they are discussing their options, dividends are of no benefit to Apple. A better option for them would be to purchase tech that can help their current business. Or, purchase technology that can move them into other fields (such as wireless, satellite, automotive, alternative energy & etc.)
Everyone seems to be wondering what Apple will do with the money. And (at least according to the links MDN pushes out) they all seem to think it’s heading toward a dividend. They never seem to be talking about what APPLE CAN’T AFFORD TO PURCHASE CURRENTLY, nor purchasing decisions that will make them stronger in this hellish slump of an economy.
Save your money Apple and buy stuff when the time is appropriate.
Those that can play the game…..play. Those that can’t, TEACH.
just my $0.02
If you have a point, just state it and don’t weaken it by ending with a retraction “just my $0.02”. Stand up for what you believe or don’t bother saying it.
If you have a point, just say it once. Repeating yourself only makes you appear desperate and insecure, or a character in a Mamet screenplay.
Those that can, do. Those that can’t, tell others to pay them a dividend.
And if you’re going to do it, “My 2¢” is the proper way to do it.
Historically these ‘special dividends” don’t create much in the way of long-term value.
If Apple does a dividend it will be because they have enough in the bank to do anything they may want to (securing materials, making acquisitions, hedging against a possible product mis-step), and are still generating more cash than they will ever need.
If they do it, it will be a small amount annually, and it will never go down.
If Apple does a dividend, they will become a pig trough… Apple should expand into other technical fields instead. There’s plenty of markets that Apple would be great at and could improve. (Don’t box yourself in, Apple… branch out!)
(I would like to know if the creator of this article, Therese Poletti from MarketWatch, and that professor James Post have Apple stock. That would make their credibility at making unbiased articles a complete joke. Tim Cook would be a lemming if he fell for these pushy badgers.)
8″ iPads at $99
Share holder: Apple could forget about a special dividend
There, fixed that typo.
awesome, thanks!
As a stockholder, I would rather they buy crack and hookers instead of paying a dividend.
The same Therese Poletti who wrote this article, wrote 4 months back (in October) an article titled:
“Why Apple Won’t Pay a Dividend”
link: http://www.smartmoney.com/invest/stocks/why-apple-wont-pay-a-dividend-1319117037789/?link=sm_newsticker
In the article she touched upon a snippet of what Steve Jobs said about it.. I found the complete statement that Steve had:
“When you take a risk, you jump in the air, and it’s nice to know that the ground is still there,” Jobs said in response to one query, adding that the company is run “very conservatively.”
But he also suggested that doing something big was not out of the question.
“You never know what opportunities lie around the corner,” he said. “We are a large company now. So to move the needle, we need to think big.”
He said paying a large dividend, or buying back a large chunk of stock, would not increase value for shareholders.
“Our goal is to increase enterprise value,” he said. “Which would you rather have us be? A company with our stock price, and $40 billion in the bank? Or a company with our stock price and no cash in the bank?”
.. in the same article that had the complete statement of jobs, there was this information as well:
Two days ago, Apple’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook, told an investors conference the company does not undertake acquisitions to increase its revenue or market size. Its deals are focused on acquiring new technology or talent, he said.
Jobs said the flexibility of having a lot of cash provides a lot of value. While he joked about throwing a large toga party, he declined to speculate on other potential uses for the cash.
One shareholder recommended the company buy the electric carmaker Tesla, while another suggested Apple build its own video-game development studio.
“Our judgment and instincts tell us to leave the powder dry for now,” Jobs said.
… so there you have it. 🙂
DO NOT PAY A DIVIDEND – PERIOD.
The only people squawking for a dividend are the ‘analysts’ at some fly-by-night Wall Street-affiliated sweat shops that have nothing better to do with their time than waste other peoples money.. JAM IT IN YOU SHORTS…
Buy Guatemala for all I care. Just focus on doing the insanely great products that everyone wants to buy! That will do it for me.
I’m sure Tim Cook holds his breath waiting for the next post here so he’ll know how to run Apple.
As a shareholder, I won a part of Apple. Part of the $100B in the bank is mine. As it stands now, the only way for me to claim my part of the money is to sell my shares. I HATE selling shares! I want MORE shares, not fewer. Pay me a dividend and I might even buy more shares. The one thing I don’t want to do is sell 10 shares a month for the income and end up 20 years from now with no shares.
Some of the above arguments were true when Apple had half as much money in the bank. Apple could now buy Disney and Sprint for cash and not notice a difference cash-wise. There’s no reason not to return some of the cash to the people who own it.
Zeke baby, if you wanted income stock you would have bought stock that paid regular dividends.
Obviously, you wanted a growth stock. Well, you got your growth. Now, if you need a steady income, sell your Apple stock and buy dividend paying stock.
Why do I have to tell you the obvious?
I think they will begin paying a regular dividend this year.
I believe you are a retard.