428
bre44380_ch16_410-435.indd 428 10/05/15 01:41 PM
● ● ● ● ●
FINANCE IN PRACTICE
❱ Figure 16.6 shows how Apple’s holdings of cash and
marketable securities have grown over the past decade.
By the start of 2012, Apple Inc. had accumulated cash
and long-term securities of about $100 billion. Steve
Jobs, the architect of Apple’s explosive growth, had
preferred to keep the war chest of cash for investment
or possible acquisitions. Job’s fiscal conservatism may
seem quaint when Apple’s forecasted income for 2012
was over $40 billion. But Jobs could remember tough
times for Apple; the company was near bankruptcy
when Jobs took over in 1997. Apple had paid cash divi-
dends in the early 1990s, but was forced to stop in 1995
as its cash reserves dwindled.
After Jobs died in October 2011, the pressure from
investors for payout steadily increased. “They have a
ridiculous amount of cash,” said Douglas Skinner, a
professor of accounting at the Chicago Booth School of
Business. “There is no feasible acquisition that Apple
could do that would need that much cash.”
On March 19, 2012, Apple announced that it would
pay a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share and spend
$10 billion for share buybacks. It forecasted $45 billion
in payout over the following three years. Apple’s stock
price jumped by $15.53 to $601 by the close of trading
on the announcement day. Apple’s dividend yield went
from zero to (2.65 × 4)/601 = 1.8%.
Was Apple’s payout sufficiently generous? Analysts’
opinions varied. “A pretty vanilla return-of-cash pro-
gram” (A. M. Sacconaghi, Bernstein Research). “It’s
not too piddling, and on the other hand not so large to
signal that growth prospects are not what they thought”
(David A. Rolfe, Wedgewood Partners). Bill Choi (Jan-
ney Montgomery Scott) pointed out that income-ori-
ented mutual funds would now be more comfortable
holding Apple stock.Source: N. Wingfield, “Flush with Cash, Apple Declares a Dividend and Buy-
back,” The New York Times, March 20, 2012, pp. B1, B9.Apple Commits to Dividend and Buyback
◗ FIGURE 16.6
The growth in Apple’s
holdings of cash and
marketable securities,
2002–2014.
0204060801001201401601802002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014Cash holding, $ billionYear ending SeptemberIn some countries you cannot trust the financial information that companies provide. A
passion for secrecy and a tendency to construct multilayered corporate organizations produce
earnings figures that are doubtful and sometimes meaningless. Thanks to creative accounting,
the situation is little better for some companies in the U.S., although accounting standards
have tightened since passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation in 2002.