Apple launches $10bn share buyback programme

Apple has released a few more details on what it plans to do with its giant pile of cash.

As was expected, even prior to the conference call being announced, the Cupertino-based tech giant says it has plans to initiate a quarterly dividend of US$2.65 per share.

Apple also launched US$10-billion share buyback programme. It claims that the programme will kick off in September, carrying on for the next three years, “with the primary objective of neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programmes”.

According to Business Insider, however, this doesn’t mean Apple has to buy the stock, it just means it has the option to.

“We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You’ll see more of all of these in the future,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase programme,” he added.

Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer said he expected the company to spend around US$45-billion over the next few years in various programmes, including paying out dividends and share buybacks.

“We are extremely confident in our future and see tremendous opportunities ahead,” he said.