Apple CEO Steve Jobs gestures during his keynote speech at the Apple MacWorld Conference in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008.Paul Sakuma/The Associated Press
The big news touted by Apple Inc. on Thursday was that iTunes has now sold a total of 10 billion songs - but the big rumour, apparently unsubstantiated, was that the company was going to split its stock in 4 for 1. Alas, such a stock split wasn't mentioned at its annual meeting. At that meeting, chief executive Steve Jobs again shot down suggestions that it issue a dividend, arguing that there are better, bolder things to do with Apple's cash hoard.
The blog 24/7 Wall Street runs some pretty interesting numbers on that hoard. Apple has no debt obligations and has about $40-billion (U.S.) in cash - an amount that grows bigger every quarter. If it paid out 75 per cent of that cash to shareholders in the form of a one-time special dividend, the payout would amount to $33 a share.
"Apple has been very slow or outright absent when it comes to making real acquisitions," said Jon Ogg at 24/7. "Maybe the company is hoarding cash so it can go buy Nintendo and finally get into the video game console business as well. Doubtful, but possible."