“It was with some trepidation that Apple investors tuned in to C-Span.org Tuesday morning to watch Cook’s appearance before the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which had conducted a detailed probe of Apple’s offshore tax havens,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune. “But those nervous Apple investors needn’t have worried. Cook’s testimony was calm and precise, and when it was over, nobody had laid a glove on him. The senators, for their part, were mostly respectful — and on occasion fawning.”
“Claire McCaskill (Dem., Mo.) couldn’t say often enough how much she loved Apple. Ron Johnson (Rep., Wisc.) praised the company’s tax minimization strategies as shareholder friendly. Rob Portman (Rep., Ohio) only wanted to talk about his tax reform proposals. Rand Paul (Rep., Ken.) thought the committee owed Apple an apology. John McCain (Rep., Ariz.), after a bout of tax dodging rhetoric, wanted to know why his iPhone was constantly updating its apps,” P.E.D. reports. “Even Levin was having a hard time getting up a head of righteous steam. Working from staff-prepared notes (and whispered instructions) on material he didn’t seem to have mastered fully, he was left, at the end, with no choice but to filibuster.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, it did go rather swimmingly. Mission accomplished, Tim & Co.!
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Good Job Tim.
LOL. Tim floated like a butterfly & stung like a bee.
The Rope-A-Dope!
Senator Levin accomplished nothing other than expelling hot air for hours, thus raising the Earth’s temperature and increasing Global Warming.
Cook did a terrific job, answering all questions informatively, politely, calmly and very effectively. Rand Paul’s defense of Cook and Apple, while very appropriate, in the end was relatively unnecessary. Cook didn’t get drubbed as many thought he would. Only the stock did 8-/
Perhaps the favorable tenor of the meeting was due, in part, to Ron Paul’s statement early in the proceedings. I chuckled to hear how “shocked” McCsin and Levin were to hear this. It was like Nixon denying Watergate.
FWIW, that waw Rand Paul, Ron’s son. And McCain took umbrage at Paul’s recognition that, in fact, the tables should be turned and Congress – not Apple – should be in the hot seat for promulgating the crapwork ta code.
All 3 of the Apple representatives stayed far cooler than I ever could have with all those false accusations flying and with that fat windbag puking up false statements then asking (demanding) Tim & Co. to agree to the statements and not allowing them to ANSWER in defense that his statements were twisted versions of the truth. I was so angry watching it. I’d probably yelled stuff at the computer screen if I wasn’t at work.
Have to totally agree. Sen. Levin really got on his high horse at the end but he kept associating Apple’s IP with its hardware… He stated that Apple’s IP was its crown jewels and that had been shared with Apples overseas company so why was the profit made from it not brought back to the USA. ??
Apple does not sell IP. They sell hardware. The hardware made in China. Sold to Europe…. Profit stays overseas.
Sen. Levin showed what an a** he is and how he totally does not get it. I am just glad I did not vote for the idiot.
The politicians Levin & McCain looked stupid. They needlessly wasted Cook’s time. Shameful grandstanding.
Totally agree about Levin. He rambled at the end saying Apple IP was what was sold in Europe. No, Apple sells Hardware and makes profit on hardware. Apple IP is shared with its overseas company so that its allowed to sell Apple hardware. IP is NOT sold overseas, only hardware.
Levin, just rambled about how since its Apple’s IP, Apple should pay taxes in America for hardware sold in Europe.. Over and over…. what an idiot.
Just my opinion and sadly Mr. Cook either did not pick up on the comment or thought it better to leave it alone.
Levin was left to make his usual self-aggrandizing remarks at the close of the hearing, when no-one was able to rebut them or point out their falseness. Typical of politicians of all persuasions in this country. As Senator Norm Coleman said after losing badly to British MP George Gallaway, “I had one goal and it was to make a record.” (Levin was in that hearing too.)
Cook did well – he did not rise to any of the bait and he stayed calm, and pleasant throughout. Pompous politicians hate that.
He really is a dick! Sort of a caricature of what you think of what a bad politician would look like. Like something out of a movie. Probably an Oliver Stone movie.
If you have money, govt will come after you for their “share”.
Congress should close their “loophole” and cut wasted spending first, make lobbying illegal.
Try pausing the war for a month, that will pay off a lot of debt.
I thought congress was elected as public servant?
Can you imagine Ballsmear or GatesofHELL being drilled by these guys? It would be a circus of “what are they talking about”. TC and Co, very professional, smart, articulate, factual, to the point with no BS. The committee sees that and backed off!
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Tim!
And the APPL stock goes down?
Everyone’s following the Piper to la la land.
Total rubbish.
I wonder how many companies that have been using illegal gimmicks are now scrambling to correct that in light of these trials. hahaha
Not unusual practice, evidently:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/google-2-4-rate-shows-how-60-billion-u-s-revenue-lost-to-tax-loopholes.html
Why did McCain keep trying to get the APPLE Representatives to recant what they already said ad naseum? The Apple reps need to be given purple hearts for having to face and respond to these bullying questions by so-called Congressmen.
Even C-Span eventually pulled the plug on them while the same stupid questions were being asked over and over and over….
the word jackass comes to mind
This was a well-orchestrated hearing.
Levin presented the side that Apple, while it paid all of its taxes and did nothing illegal, should pay more money to the government.
Paul pointed out that the tax code is a mess and needs major overhauling.
Faltering governments in Europe, France comes to mind, will press for higher tax rates on multi-nationals like Apple, others. My take is that today’s testimony is a shot across the bow of government-backed demonization of successful firms. We’ll see.
The entire Apple team present did very well. Levin tried the typical lawyer tricks, focus on a small issue, get them to admit to that issue, then tie that issue into something larger and sinister. He failed miserably because he has not idea how Apple makes it’s money. I realize Apple is the largest corporate tax payer in the USA, but why not bring in noted tax avoiders like GE or some of the big multinational oil companies based in the US? Well-orchestrated is right, I wonder how many Google, Microsoft, and Samsung lobbyists have made “contributions” to some of these senators election campaigns in the past?
All that Levin did today was to give me and every other Apple shareholder a strong incentive to make a campaign contribution to whoever runs against him the next time he’s up for re-election.
-jcr
He is not going to run for re-election.
Where was Levin & McCain when Billy Boy could murmur only the words “I don’t remember”?
well duh. None of the senators were even wearing gloves.
The MDN reader needs to be reminded that Cook volunteered to attend the hearing, not the other way around.
the senate inquisitors weren’t bright enough to ask real questions . the let them get away with telling when they moved rights to intellectual property to avoid saying why. they never asked if us sales contribute to the irish rights trust for “royalties” and if they don’t why do european subsidiaries have to. i thought corporations were people now ? as much as i love apple i hate corporations especially holding companies and other Larry loophole tricks that they pay legislators not to close or worse to open in the first place . please let me know the next time Ron Paul is going to speak on anything so i can short something and take advantage of his buzzkill . not only do i HAVE to pay my taxes now i HAVE to pay a private company to pay my doctor bills for me . I cant wait to see texas execute the next corporation that kills someone thru gross negligence!
Good. Maybe those satchels full of cash that were passed around before the meeting helped.
Nah, Apple doesn’t really have much of a presence in Washington with lobbyists. They might want to consider taking a little bit of that cash pile and hire a few more lobbyists. Fight fire with fire.
I think that the Senators came off as pretty abrasive in their line of questioning, but it struck me that Tim Cook, in his clear presentation, actually taught them something by being open and forthright, rather than dodging. I wonder if Rand Paul just didn’t know that Cook was testifying voluntarily and had not been summoned to Washington, or if he was just keying off the strange behavior of Levin and McCain, who seemed to be questioning Cook as if he’d been subpoenaed – just like his father he half makes sense and is half insane – it’s kind of like a pot luck grab bag.
Rand Paul is just another member of the “Congressional Club” so you’re only talking about a matter of degree.
At the risk of damning with faint praise, Rand Paul is far and away the most intelligent Senator currently serving. He’s a board-certified eye surgeon, and his grasp of history and economics puts his senate colleagues to shame.
-jcr
I only tuned in for about 15 minutes but it looked to me like Tim was getting his but kissed.
Yeah, yeah, yeah… but as a result of Tim’s public appearance AAPL loses while the rest of the market is gaining. Typical reaction of investors when reminded of the extraordinarily weak CEO this company is saddled with these days.
Microsoft and Google were down also.
Ha. The committee got schooled 🙂
Hope they learn something and apply what they learn.
It’s over?
Really?
I got some advice for you. Regardless of how things appear… don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched.
The fat lady hasn’t sung yet.
Conservative’s love Apple’s success! Liberals hate it! Liberals, however, love Apple’s controversial efforts in redefining marriage and ending America as we know it. That’s why they all fawn over Apple.
What utter BS. Ignorant, off point, flat out wrong, just trying to rile people. Pathetic. Sort of like the senators.
Hah 🙂
“John McCain (Rep., Ariz.), after a bout of tax dodging rhetoric, wanted to know why his iPhone was constantly updating its apps”