Apple asks investors to stump up £10.9bn to keep shareholders sweet
Apple has successfully raised a hefty £10.9bn from investors in order to fund a bumper payout to shareholders, long aggrieved by the technology giant’s dormant $145bn cash mountain.
The flood of dollar bills will be used to fund a $60bn share buyback as well as a 15% rise in its dividend to shareholders.
Apple chose the bond sale route, its first in two decades, for tax reasons after its accountants warned that shipping huge volumes of currency into the US would incur the full force of the local tax authorities.
The move comes at a troubled time for the firm which has seen its share price crash by 40% since hitting a record high in September last year with pundits increasingly pessimistic about the company’s growth prospects in the teeth of voracious competition and a spartan product schedule.
Nonetheless Apple still raked in net profits of $9.5bn in the first quarter thanks to stronger than expected iPad and iPhone sales, although this was significantly less than the $11.6bn it made last year.