Investors and analysts finally do not
have to speculate about Apple's surplus of nearly $100 billion in cash.
According to the New York Times, the tech giant announced Monday it
would pay a stock dividend of $2.65 a share in the fourth quarter. The
company board also authorized a $10 billion share buyback program to
reward investors.
Apple issued a media alert on Sunday evening
saying it planned to announce the long-awaited decision by its board
about what to do with the large amount of cash. This allowed everyone
from analysts to bloggers to speculate about what they would do with the
money. Many on Wall Street called for the company to give some money
back it its shareholders. Luckily, the company appeased the masses.
In
a statement, Apple CEO, Tim Cook said, "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."
Apple
halted trading on its stock on Monday. This is the first time the
company has paid out a dividend to its shareholders since 1995.