14 DAY TRIAL // After announcing a conference call to reveal the outcome of discussions concerning its cash balance, Apple has officially confirmed plans to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program later this year.
The Mac maker said it had plans to initiate a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share sometime in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012, which begins on July 1, 2012, subject to declaration by the Board of Directors.
The board of directors has authorized a $10 billion share repurchase program starting in fiscal 2013 (September 30, 2012).
Expected to be executed over three years, the repurchase program has the primary objective of neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs, Apple said.
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.”
“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,” Cook added.
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, chimed in to say that, “Combining dividends, share repurchases, and cash used to net-share-settle vesting RSUs, we anticipate utilizing approximately $45 billion of domestic cash in the first three years of our programs.
“We are extremely confident in our future and see tremendous opportunities ahead,” said Oppenheimer.
Apple’s conference call discussing its plans starts at 6:00 a.m. PDT today. Apple is providing live streaming of the conference call at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/call31912, where it will also be available for replay some two weeks starting now.
“The Company will not be providing an update on the current quarter nor will any topics be discussed other than cash,” Apple clarified. “This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.”