Apple is preparing a four-part bond sale to fund stock buybacks and the payment of dividends to investors, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The bond maturities range from seven to 40 years. Apple didn’t disclose how much money it is raising or what interest rates it will pay.
Shares of Apple were down 1% in premarket trading on Monday.
The credit-rating company Moody’s upgraded Apple’s long-term rating to Aaa in December. This is Moody’s highest rating, awarded only to companies with the lowest level of credit risk.
MacDailyNews Note: In April, Apple’s board of directors authorized an increase of $90 billion to the existing share repurchase program.
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This kind of fooling around with money is silly and in long run does nothing to help develop new, successful products. This kind shenanigans would not have made Steve happy and in the long run will be the bane of the company.
I 100% agree. With interest rates rising now is not the time to be taking on more debt. No matter what anyone says there is NO “free money” — no matter how you play the game.
One of the fist things Steve Jobs did upon coming back was to pay off 100% of Apple’s debt. Under Steve Jobs’ latter tenure Apple was 100% debt free. This allowed Apple to pursue radically new things (iPod, iPhone, iPad) outside of Apple’s product lines to forger wholly new avenues for Apple.
With large debtors looking over Apple’s shoulder to keep Apple “safe” and thus protect their debt (and likely calling up every now and then to “give advice”) Apple is very much less likely to take risks.