Icahn writes to Tim Cook urging Apple to expand buyback plan

San Franscisco: Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, who is urging Apple Inc to expand its share buyback plan, said on Wednesday he has written a letter to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and will reveal the contents on a website to be launched on Thursday.

“Just sent a letter to Tim Cook. Full letter will be disclosed on my website, the Shareholders’ Square Table, which will be launched tomorrow,” he said on Twitter.

Icahn, who has said Apple could trade at $700 with a larger stock buyback, told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday that Apple needs a board that goes in and does a “huge buyback.”

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Apple did not respond to a message seeking comment.

[caption id=“attachment_1190725” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has said that he will reveal the contents of his letter to Tim Cook on a website to be launched on Thursday. Reuters[/caption]

Icahn, who is known for taking large positions in companies and pushing for management change, has said his stake in Apple is worth around $2 billion.

The investor had dinner last month with Cook and Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer and described the meeting as “cordial.”

In August, Icahn told Reuters that “Apple has the ability to do a $150 billion buyback now by borrowing funds at 3 percent.

He said at the time that “if Apple does this now and earnings increase at only 10 percent, the stock - even keeping the same multiple currently - should trade at $700 a share.”

Reuters