Renowned investor Carl Icahn bails out of Apple by selling £1.37bn stake
Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor renowned for his ability to play the stock market, has chosen this moment to bail out of Apple stock by flogging all 53m of his shares for £1.37bn.
Confirming his decision during an interview with CNBC Icahn said simply: “We no longer have a position with Apple,” adding that he had decided to act amidst concern that Apple has now peaked with sales of its flagship iPhone beginning to go into global decline.
Prior to offloading his stake Icahn phoned Apple chief executive Tim Cook to inform him of his decision, recalling how that went he added: “I called him this morning to tell him that, and he was a little sorry, obviously. But I told him it's a great company.”
Icahn expressed particular concern about the economic slowdown in China and its heavy-handed government for forcing his hand, notably a March law mandating that all content shown in China must be streamed from servers physically located on the Chinese mainland.
That decision alone forced the complete shutdown of Apple’s iBooks and iTunes, although it is hoped these services can be restored soon.