No. of Recommendations: 21
"Apple Cash Return Surpasses $1 Trillion
Apple spent $29 billion on dividends and share buybacks in its latest quarter, pushing the all-time tally on Apple’s cash return program past $1 trillion.
When Tim Cook became Apple CEO in 2011, Steve Jobs left him with a problem: the company had too much cash and no debt. There was $76 billion on the balance sheet, a number that was growing quickly every quarter as the iPhone took off.
Apple prefers not to make big acquisitions, and it was already investing heavily back into the business. The only solution was to do something Jobs had resisted: returning cash to shareholders. By the time Apple paid its first dividend in 2012, the pile had risen past $120 billion, and it topped $140 billion when buybacks began the following year.
Since 2012, Apple has paid $181 billion in dividends and bought back $841 billion of shares. In the process it has reduced the diluted share count by 44%."
From Barrons.
Imagine if Greg amps up buybacks. Of course the price needs to be sensible. Diluted share count down 44% since 2011 is impressive.
