“Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook downplayed a suggestion that the company might issue a special dividend to shareholders with some of the $285 billion in cash that the company is now able to bring back from overseas,” Stephen Nellis reports for Reuters. “At an annual shareholder meeting at Apple Park in Cupertino on Tuesday, Cook responded to a question on whether the company might double its dividend in the wake of changes to United States tax laws that allowed corporations to bring back overseas cash at lower tax rates than before. ‘Special dividends, I‘m not really a fan of,’ Cook responded. ‘But in terms of annual increases in the dividend, it is something that this board and management are committed to doing.'”
“At the meeting, shareholders defeated two shareholder proposals, one asking that rules allowing shareholders to nominate directors to the board be eased, and another asking for a human rights committee at Apple,” Nellis reports. “The proxy access measure asked Apple to reconsider its rules for shareholders to nominate directors; the rules say that a group of no more than 20 shareholders must hold 3 percent of Apple’s stock in order to nominate a director for one of the eight director positions. The proposal did not pass, with 67.8 percent of shareholders voting against it.”
“Another proposal urged Apple to create a human rights panel to oversee issues such as workplace conditions and censorship in China and to report results back to the public. The proposal was defeated, with 94.4 percent of shareholders voting against it,” Nellis reports. “Apple had recommended that shareholders vote against both of the measures.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The special dividend hope was always a pipe dream.
SEE ALSO:
Why a record $38 billion U.S. tax payment is a good deal for Apple – January 18, 2018
‘We want to help America,’ Apple CEO Tim Cook says of moving foreign money back to the U.S. – January 18, 2018
Apple to build new U.S. campus, pay record $38 billion repatriation tax – January 18, 2018
Apple gives employees $2,500 bonuses after President Trump signed the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – January 17, 2018
Looks like Apple is bringing nearly all of its $250 billion foreign cash back home to America – January 17, 2018
Apple plans to add $350 billion to U.S. economy and create over 20,000 new jobs over next 5 years, pay $38 billion in repatriated taxes, the largest ever made – January 17, 2018
Apple expected to issue less debt in 2018 now that President Trump has signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – January 16, 2018
Apple aims to block shareholder proposals on climate and human rights concerns – December 11, 2017
Was never my pipe dream. I hate the special dividend idea. Why reward traders? People pile in for the one time payday than exit just as quickly the next day. Now, doubling the dividend, I like that. Apple has the cash to pay such a ridiculous dividend that nobody in their right mind would sell the stock. I think that does more to move the needle than anything, including buy-backs.
Who needs a committee to oversee working conditions and prevent employee abuse in Apple’s Chinese partners’ factories?
Who needs meddlesome groups to investigate state corruption and violation of human rights?
No one! We have Tim Cook, twink superhero and social justice advocate. Who needs the truth when Tim Cook can provide such pleasant lies and propaganda? So, invest in Apple because your financial interests are so much more important than anything else.
Why don’t ‘you’ – a representative of the BasementCEO™ clan, fly to China, stand in the middle of Tiananmen Square with a megaphone and show the world what a big principled man you are.
Then you can return home(maybe) and tell Apple how to do it without going bankrupt overnight or going to prison for inciting public unrest.
Homophobic slur from a “twonk”
Just call ’em like I see ’em. No need to get yer panties in a bind.
What about a small dividend for short-term shareholders, a larger dividend for shareholders over one year, and the largest dividend for shareholders over five years?
Is something like that legal?
Could they?
Would they?
I’m definitely not looking for a special dividend. I want to keep those greedy, big money day traders far away from Apple. All those “investors” ever do is jump from company to company trying to suck up money like a sponge. They don’t really support any company as they’re only looking to support their own instant wealth. The wealthy funds really have such a huge advantage by being able to move such large sums of money around at a moment’s notice. It’s those so-called “investors” who are likely causing such huge market swings almost every other day. They make me sick.
I’ll be satisfied with Apple giving shareholders a slightly larger yearly dividend boost if that’s what’s best for the company. I had hoped Apple might make at least one decent large acquisition but I’m not sure what company Apple should go after. I just want Apple to acquire some product or service to offset iPhone sales losses if Wall Street is only going to focus on that aspect of the company.
If Apple could only find something that would increase institutional investor long-term ownership and move it into the 70% range like many other major tech stocks. So far, Apple can’t seem to attract those types of investors. Apple attracts too many “gamblers” who constantly bet on daily or weekly rumors to move the company’s share price on way or another.
Well you just can’t stop folk being folk. That being so, and remembering that AAPL is not Apple Inc, volatility on the stock market is an opportunity and only an annoyance if you are really long Apple.
That there are so many gamblers and small holders in Apple stock, is a good thing that prevents a lot of institutional hostility and boardroom bullying that can happen when unmerited pressure to make changes to company ideals might destroy a company. There are many examples.
Has everyone forgotten about the users. Or is this now just an investors club? As a professional photographer and videographer, I will never trust Apple without new senior management. You have greatly complicated my career when I can least afford. Bring Aperture up to date? Photos is a sissy app for teenagers and grandmas.
Well ‘if’ you are the photographer pro you say you are, you would know that Aperture was EOL’d over 3 years ago. You would also know that Adobe Lightroom, Raw and Photoshop exist and are the default apps for photographer pros. You would know that Premiere and FCPX are the most used video editors. The Photos App is for rank amateurs who want convenience rather than pro options.
Thinking about it, you’re just Pro whinger spouting-off way beyond your pay grade.
I’m moving to Capture One. You iPhone lovers cans stay with the BS you can do with an iPhone or iPad. What are you going to use to create your teenager Grandma apps? Tim Cook is a complete loser focused on shareholders, users be damned.
I’m moving to Capture One and Resolve. If necessary, God help me, Windows. You iPhone lovers cans stay with the BS you can do with an iPhone or iPad. What are you going to use to create your teenager Grandma apps? Tim Cook is a complete loser focused on shareholders, users be damned. Have sold over 100 Mac Pros as Avids (only Hawaii dealer for 6 years) and been a VAR when Apple had enough sense to support the pro community. Welcome to High School and skill less users with little expendable cash.
Has everyone forgotten about the users/ Or is this now just an investors club? As a professional photographer and videographer, I will never trust Apple without new senior management. You have greatly complicated my career when I can least afford it. Bring Aperture up to date! Photos is a sissy app for teenagers and grandmas.
I don’t see that traders add material value to Apple Corp. Therefore, they should not be rewarded with unearned income.
Of course there will be a special dividend. As chairman and CEO, Cook will line his pockets, funnel cash into his buddies executive bank accounts, and laugh all the way to the bank.
No human on this planet is worth what Fortune 500 CEOs take for themselves, and Cook is worse than most on obscene unchecked compensation.
I am fortunate to be able to afford Apsple products…You touched upon runaway disparity but nor just at Apple. Capitalists are consuming entirely too much of the Commons’ wealth for themselves. And their purging of jobs and incomes ((much of it is in purpose)) is unsustainable as it will likely lead to an uprising of some sort and ofunknown intensity so Capitalists are playing with fire.
Traders may add prestigious value to Apple Corp. Therefore, they should be rewarded with certificates of appreciation instead of Apple’s dividends, and dividends do indeed belong to Apple.
The proposal to add more board members has merit. Maybe not in the exact form that was proposed, but there is an issue with Apple’s board. It is too small and not diverse enough. I don’t mean that it needs more women or minorities, that too, Apple is a giant company marshaling vast resources ready to acquire influence over many sectors of the economy, yet they have only eight board members. Apple needs to find a way to add more kinds of people to the senior management group (biologists, physicists, technologists, musicians, politicians, union leaders) and they need to find a better structure to manage a diverse corporation.
A man read a statement about Apple not supporting Pro apps like Aperture and Final Cut. He made a good point and got a lot of applause.
The question of oral health care was quite good and well stated. It is a huge part of health care, and the question really caught Tim Cook off guard. We did learn that Apple is doing nothing in this area. Good to know. I don’t know that Apple should be involved, but now we know they are not.
There were a lot of dumb comments, but you take the wheat with the chaff. I go every year and really value the chance to see what I can learn. If I could get an initiative passed it would be to have the Q&A last a full day with time for discussion on many of the questions put forth. Not to torture the executives, but I think it would be good for them to publicly defend their positions and hear what the shareholders think.
My take away from this meeting was that Apple thinks the future is in music subscriptions, Apple Watch and AR. Apple Watch got more time than anything else.