Apple has announced that it will pay a dividend to shareholders for the first time since 1995. The announcement came at the conclusion of internal discussions on what to do with the company’s $100bn cash balance.
In addition to the dividend of $2.65 per share, which will paid quarterly starting in the July-September 2012 period, Apple said it would spend $10bn over three years buying back stock. During a conference call to explain details of the programs, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that the purpose of the re-purchase program was to offset the dilution of the stock caused by Apple’s employee purchase scheme.
‘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 Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. ‘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 program.’
