insane dividends

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On WatchSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Apple Inc. plans to host a special call with investors early Monday morning to announce a decision about the use of a massive cash hoard that was near $100 billion at the end of last year.

Reuters
Tim Cook, left, with the late Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs at an event on July 16, 2010. Jobs was dismissive of paying a dividend, but Cook says he is “not religious” about the issue. Apple will hold a special call on Monday morning.

In a brief statement issued Sunday, Apple AAPL +2.94% said that Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer will host the call, to begin at 9 a.m. Eastern time. The purpose of the call will be “to announce the outcome of the company’s discussions concerning its cash balance,” the statement read.

The company added that it will “not be providing an update on the current quarter nor will any topics be discussed other than cash.”

Among other topics of interest might have been the success of the launch of the new iPad, which hit stores in the U.S. and nine other countries Friday.

Apple’s large cash balance has been a growing topic of interest for investors, with many calling on the company to consider a dividend. The company’s cash, short-term equivalents and long-term investments totaled $97.6 billion at the conclusion of its most recently reported quarter on Dec. 31.

Apple paid a quarterly dividend for an eight-year period that ended in late 1995 — prior to the return of co-founder Steve Jobs, who took back the CEO post at the company nearly until his death late last year from cancer.

Jobs was famously cool to the idea of dividends. At a shareholder meeting in February 2010, Jobs said dividends do not increase the value of the company for shareholders. At the time, the company’s cash balance was around the $40 billion mark. See previous story on Jobs's comments about Apple's cash.



“Which would you rather have us be: a company with our stock price and $40 billion in the bank or a company with our stock price and no cash in the bank?” he asked at the meeting.

Tim Cook, who took over the CEO post shortly before Jobs’s death, has said he is “not religious” one way or another about dividends, and has recently maintained that the company’s board of directors has been studying the topic of its use of cash.