Apple veröffentlicht Stellungnahme zur Dividendenzahlung
Apple hat eine Stellungnahme zur Dividendenzahlung veröffentlicht, nachdem die Investorengruppe Greenlight Capital in einer Pressemitteilung die
sofortige Auszahlung einer Dividende forderte und zudem eine Klage gegen Apple eingereicht hat. Nach Ansicht von Greenlight Capital legt Apple zu viele Barreserven an und nutzt diese auch nur für risikoarme Anlagen. In der Stellungnahme hat Apple nun erklärt, in Kürze 10 Milliarden US-Dollar Dividende auszuzahlen und den bisherigen Plan fortzuführen, in den kommenden drei Jahren insgesamt 45 Milliarden US-Dollar an Aktionäre abzugeben. In diesem Zusammenhang hat Apple auch wenig Sorge, dass die Barreserven abnehmen könnten, und verweist auf die Milliardengewinne der vergangenen Quartale. Darüber hinaus sieht Apple sich auch weiterhin in der Lage Vorzugsaktien auszugeben, welche zwar kein Stimmrecht gewähren, aber als Ausgleich eine höhere Dividendenzahlung beinhalten. Nachfolgend Apples Stellungnahme zur Forderung von Greenlight Capital:
Statement by Apple
By early last year, Apple’s cash balance had built to a point beyond what we needed to run our business and maintain flexibility to take advantage of strategic opportunities, so we announced a plan to return $45 billion to shareholders over three years. As of next week we will have executed $10 billion of that plan.
We find ourselves in the fortunate position of continuing to generate large amounts of cash, including $23 billion in cash flow from operations in the last quarter alone.
Apple’s management team and Board of Directors have been in active discussions about returning additional cash to shareholders. As part of our review, we will thoroughly evaluate Greenlight Capital’s current proposal to issue some form of preferred stock. We welcome Greenlight’s views and the views of all of our shareholders.
As a part of our efforts to further enhance corporate governance and serve our shareholders’ best interests, Proposal #2 in our proxy includes some recommended changes to our articles of incorporation. These changes were recommended independently of Greenlight’s proposal and would not preclude Apple from adopting their concept. Contrary to Greenlight’s statements, adoption of Proposal #2 would not prevent the issuance of preferred stock. Currently, Apple’s articles of incorporation provide for the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock by the Board of Directors without shareholder approval. If Proposal #2 is adopted, our shareholders would have the right to approve the issuance of preferred stock. As such, Proposal #2 has the support of many of our shareholders.
We remain committed to having an ongoing dialogue with our shareholders to get perspectives around return of capital and driving shareholder value.
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