“The late Steve Jobs, who for all his genius as the man behind the iPhone, iTunes and the iPod, was regarded by many shareholders as iScrooge,” Lou Carlozo writes for U.S. News & World Report. “The reason: He famously hated and refused to award dividends, even when the company he co-founded soared into stratospheric wealth in triple-digit billions.”
“‘The long stretch during which Apple paid no dividend probably reflected Jobs’ searing experience rescuing the company from near death,’ says Barry Randall, chief investment officer at Crabtree Asset Management and manager of the Crabtree technology portfolio for Interactive Brokers Asset Management,” Carlozo writes. “Once Apple was out of the weeds for good, current CEO Tim Cook ushered it into the dividend era on March 19, 2012 — the first time the company had awarded such a payout since 1995. And it was definitely, positively about time, as Apple today is on the verge of becoming the first $1 trillion company in history. ”
“‘What Steve Jobs did with beautiful design work Tim Cook is doing with free cash flow,’ says Ryan Krueger of Krueger & Catalano Capital Partners in Houston,” Carlozo writes. “As for what to expect in the years to come, think of it as Apple’s ripening, a Golden Delicious period — with the ever-so-slight chance of rot. ‘Investors should expect the dividend to slowly increase over time, reflecting Apple’s maturation into a slower-growing but more highly profitable company,’ Randall says. ‘A higher percentage of Apple’s revenue will come from recurring services such as iTunes, giving Apple’s management more confidence in raising the dividend and increasing the yield.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Certainly, Jobs’ experiences with – and without – Apple affected his views on such shareholder niceties as dividends.
‘What Steve Jobs did with beautiful design work Tim Cook is doing with free cash flow,’
that is one of the saddest things i’ve read in a long, long time
that sadly summarizes the AAPL-bittersweet I’ve been experiencing the last 5-ish years. The “art” in the business, that made Apple something other than a Wall St specimen, takes a back seat. Apple “can” now be like every other Fortune company
“Well, we are living in the best of all possible worlds. And so is Apple”. (Apologies to Voltaire.)
Yes, things could have been different — except they weren’t. Until Apple and the rest of us get to live in a better world, we will just have to settle for reality.
honestly, i think steve jobs had his feet in two worlds. one in the present, of reality, the other in a hypothetical world that only visionaries inhabit. coupled with his passion and drive to pull theoretical invention into the real world made him a rare and singular ceo. i don’t resent mr cook, i’m just sad that apple lost such a treasure. i can be sad and walk at the same time
Apple’s revenues in 2017 were more than 5-times (> 500%) what they were in 2010. Meanwhile, Apple — and the world — has adjusted to the death of Steve Jobs, its co-founder and visionary (in 2011), built a huge new Headquarters facility, responded to relentless competition from knock-offs and copiers, been harried by incessant so-called pundits and nay-sayers, all while continuing to research, develop, improve, and produce a staggering number of devices.
I am sure there are more than ever dissatisfied Apple customers …since there are more than ever total Apple customers. And some may remain nostalgic for the “good old days” when the Mac was king …but those days are long gone. It is a new world with the iPhone.
So don’t let the bastards get you down. It is not as bad as they think.