Billionaire Investor Carl Icahn Sells Entire Stake In Apple (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said he has sold his entire stake in Apple, citing the risk of China's influence on the stock. The report comes after Apple announced its first earnings decline in more than a decade, where Apple's revenue is dropping 26% year-over-year. Icahn is concerned with the barriers to trade that China's authoritarian regime might put in place. Icahn said he wasn't concerned with interference so much with the country's "relationship" with Apple. "The thing that I'm worried about here in China doesn't affect the whole market. I'm not talking about China's economic status right now. I'm talking about, could the thing with Apple escalate a little bit? And if that does, what does that mean to Apple's profits during the interim?" Icahn acquired a stake in the company almost three years ago, calling the investment a "no brainer." What caused him to sell his 45.8 million Apple shares (priced at $240 a share) was China's economic slowdown and worries about how China could become more prohibitive in doing business.

Comments

Good Riddance?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure that anything good will come of looting the company, so this may be for the best.

Re:Good Riddance?

[ArmoredDragon]

Apple doesn't have anywhere near enough capital to go private, and I doubt they're going be able to borrow more because they already have a lot of debt. Their stock would have to seriously decline first.

Re:Good Riddance?

[harperska]

Maybe the recent quarter's results are due to Apple intentionally reducing their profits in order to depress the stock for the purpose of buying it back?
</tinfoil_hat>

Re:Good Riddance?

[peragrin]

Apple's profits are still up, only their sales are down.

Basically icahn realized he can never get his hands on Apple's cash pile. Just like he tried to get his hands on Dell's cash, etc.

To sum up. I can sees a public company with lots of cash on hand as a cash machine. he invests into the company to the point he can push his agenda, his agenda includes taking on massive debt and giving the cash to the shareholders(like him), and then because of the massive debt the company collapses , long after he has cashed out 4-5 times over.

The problem is everyone knows that is what icahn is going to do so when he starts making big moves, every one circles the wagons.

Re:Good Riddance?

[larryjoe]

Apple's profits are still up, only their sales are down.

No, profits are way down. Year-to-year from $13.6 billion to $10.5 billion or down 23%. Sequentially from $18.4 billion to $10.5 billion or down 43%.

Much more worrying than the one-quarter blip is the year-to-year revenue growth trend, which has trended down for the past three quarters and is likely to be down the next quarter. On the heels of the first ever year-to-year revenue drop, the next quarter is also projected to be negative.

No, Apple is not going out of business, but it's looking mortal. It's a chink in the armor of inevitable growth. The stock will take a hit, since it partially trades on perception. However, the biggest hit will be in product sales, which for Apple also partially trades on perception.

Re:Good Riddance?

[SvnLyrBrto]

Unless you're legitimately talking about a level 2 network, it's the snarky asshat way of typing Mac, of course. Feign ignorance of the correct nomenclature in order to demonstrate that the product is beneath your notice, and all that. The same sort of people would type Lunix instead of Linux, WinDOS instead of Windows, claim that Windows phones still run on Win CE, call the Apple Watch an iWatch, and of course, type Micro$oft or Crapple.

Basically, it's juvenile name-calling and a sign that the poster is best ignored and/or down-modded.

Re:Good Riddance?

[tlhIngan]

Apple doesn't have anywhere near enough capital to go private, and I doubt they're going be able to borrow more because they already have a lot of debt. Their stock would have to seriously decline first.

Actually, Apple doesn't have a lot of debt. In fact, the only reason they have debt is because it's cheaper to borrow the money than repatriate it. The interest rate on that money is around 1-2%. If they repatriated that cash, they would lose 40% of it to Uncle Sam.

Re:Good Riddance?

[mrclevesque]

Yeah, but are his numbers close?

240$/share?

[Anonymous Coward]

Where'd that number come from?

Re:240$/share?

[Xel]

They may be preferred shares, or perhaps he had a position on them.

Re:240$/share?

[14erCleaner]

In another article, it's made clear that he thinks it's worth $240, but sold for about $125.

Re: Buy Low, Sell High

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that would be manipulating the market for profit and I believe it's illegal... not sure maybe someone else can chime in

Slashdot interface weirdness

[ShaunC]

Did anyone else see this story looking muted for awhile?

I'm used to the occasional glitch where, even as a non-subscriber, I sometimes see stories in advance and highlighted in red. But this was something different, it's like the story itself got caught inside the advertisement. There was no way to click into the story and the "X" didn't do anything. Using Firefox on Windows. Sunspots!

Re:Slashdot interface weirdness

[rmdingler]

I've seen this...it is a glitch in the Matrix.

It normally means a raider of the lost corporate ark is eminent.

Stop calling him an activist investor

[Sycraft-fu]

That's a name he and his PR people have made up because it sounds cool. He's a corporate raider: He buys successful companies on a heavily leveraged position, transfers all the debt to them, sells off their assets, and then leaves them to die. He tried to do it with Dell, but failed thankfully.

Re:Stop calling him an activist investor

[EvilSS]

This. 10000000 times this. Guy is a world class asshat. He probably dumped his shares as a final tantrum because Apple wouldn't bend to his bullying and he finally ran into a company that, even will all his billions, could tell him to go pound sand.

Re:Stop calling him an activist investor

[inode_buddha]

*shrug* Sounds like normal corporate america to me... my experience is that *all* the players are like that. And that is why the country is in the shitter. Hey, its the American way.

Re:Stop calling him an activist investor

[Anonymous Coward]

No, I'm saying you're a fucking idiot.

Re:Stop calling him an activist investor

[Howitzer86]

If he did, he'd be richer than God. See also: Putin- for an example of what that might look like.

Re:Stop calling him an activist investor

[burbilog]

Also Bill Ackman's M.O. Usually it involves firing a shitload of staff, hiring a handful of cheap, offshore replacements, and watching the stock temporarily shoot higher as a result of the cost cutting. Never mind 5 years down the road the company is a shambles, or the safety issues that arise from fewer people doing more work in dangerous jobs.

Well, it's time to create another rating agency that monitors long-term health like outsourcing staff, cutting QA, etc and publishes ratings accordingly.

Anything wrong?

[Taco Cowboy]

... Also considering who it is, selling all of his stock in Apple, could "plunge" the stock, then after it bottoms, he buys it back at a super low price, and it goes back up and he makes even MORE money ...

Let's say what you have suggested happens, that Carl Icahn makes another trillion dollars shorting Apple stock and then buy back at super low price

Let me ask you this --- is there anything wrong with what he does?

After all, this is the FREE MARKET --- If you get to do whatever you want with your own money, Mr. Icahn should have the same right and use his money the way he sees fit

Now, don't tell me about that bullshi 1% thing

They get to be 1% because they use their brain, and if you can't be amongst the 1%, hey, don't blame them, blame yourself for being too lazy to use YOUR brain

That says ... Carl Icahn has a point in saying Apple's over reliance on China (or any other country for the matter)

Ever since the death of Steve Jobs Apple's future has gone bleak. Cook is no Jobs. He ain't got the vision of Mr. Jobs nor the drive to identify the upcoming trend

All Cook has done was sitting on the helm doing nothing

I mean, what's so different between the latest iteration of iPhone with their previous version of the same product?

As far as I can tell, except for the hype, nothing much

Under Mr. Jobs, Apple went from one product to another --- from Apple to Mac to iPod to iPhone to iPad, --- and under Cook, what kind of new product Apple has come out with?

Apple might as well do what Yahoo is doing --- give away the hundreds of billions that it is sitting on to the shareholders, and close their doors, since there ain't gonna be any exciting new product coming, certainly not under Cook

Re:Anything wrong?

[ArmoredDragon]

Under Mr. Jobs, Apple went from one product to another --- from Apple to Mac to iPod to iPhone to iPad, --- and under Cook, what kind of new product Apple has come out with?

You forgot: Under Cook, Apple was the first company to make a smartwatch.

(/sarcasm)

Re:Anything wrong?

[Megol]

... Also considering who it is, selling all of his stock in Apple, could "plunge" the stock, then after it bottoms, he buys it back at a super low price, and it goes back up and he makes even MORE money ...

Let's say what you have suggested happens, that Carl Icahn makes another trillion dollars shorting Apple stock and then buy back at super low price

Let me ask you this --- is there anything wrong with what he does?

Yes. Given you post history I'd doubt you would understand why even if I spell it out for you so I'll refrain from that.

After all, this is the FREE MARKET --- If you get to do whatever you want with your own money, Mr. Icahn should have the same right and use his money the way he sees fit

The idea of the free market is an artificial construct that can't work in the real world. And even IF it was possible we don't have a free market currently.

Now, don't tell me about that bullshi 1% thing

They get to be 1% because they use their brain, and if you can't be amongst the 1%, hey, don't blame them, blame yourself for being too lazy to use YOUR brain

Bullshit! You may think that but of the people using their brains most never get close to rich - that's not how the world works. The very rich are because they had a lot of money to start with and create more money.
And here we return to the idea of the free market - where is the inheritance tax that makes sure people doesn't inherit enormous wealth therefore effectively removing choice from the smart poor people not inheriting? Without that there can never truly be a free market.

That says ... Carl Icahn has a point in saying Apple's over reliance on China (or any other country for the matter)

Ever since the death of Steve Jobs Apple's future has gone bleak. Cook is no Jobs. He ain't got the vision of Mr. Jobs nor the drive to identify the upcoming trend

All Cook has done was sitting on the helm doing nothing

I mean, what's so different between the latest iteration of iPhone with their previous version of the same product?

As far as I can tell, except for the hype, nothing much

Under Mr. Jobs, Apple went from one product to another --- from Apple to Mac to iPod to iPhone to iPad, --- and under Cook, what kind of new product Apple has come out with?

Apple might as well do what Yahoo is doing --- give away the hundreds of billions that it is sitting on to the shareholders, and close their doors, since there ain't gonna be any exciting new product coming, certainly not under Cook

Still not thinking I see. Bah.

Re:Anything wrong?

[harperska]

Like how under Jobs, Apple was the first company to make a personal computer (the first with a graphical UI no less!), the first to make an mp3 player, the first to make a smartphone, and the first to make a tablet computer.

It is funny how while Jobs was alive, he was apparently nothing more than a marketing charlatan, but once he was gone, Apple was doomed without his innovative genius.

Re:Anything wrong?

[radarskiy]

"Carl Icahn has a point in saying Apple's over reliance on China"

Except that's always been true for everyone. There no new information, and nothing specific to Apple.

As I have said elsewhere, if Icahn is out then I know Apple is okay. He's proof that it is smarter to be lucky than it is lucky to be smart.

Re:Anything wrong?

[rockout]

If you really think Icahn is dumping the stock so that it plunges and he can buy it back at a discount and watch it rise again, you're certainly free to do the exact same thing - that is, buy it after your predicted fall happens, and then sell it rises again. That's if you really think that's what's going on.

The truth is, the stock ticked downward a touch, just over 1%, after the news of the Icahn move, but that was nothing compared to how much it went down earlier in the week on their reduced revenue news. So no, it appears the Icahn sell is more media hype than actual force on the price of the stock.

Re: Anything wrong?

[Anonymous Coward]

All Ayn Rand disciples built the log cabins they were born in.

Re:Anything wrong?

[no-body]

Let's say what you have suggested happens, that Carl Icahn makes another trillion dollars shorting Apple stock and then buy back at super low price

Well, if he makes another trillion for his to use, have you ever thought, where this money is coming from, like who is creating it? Is it just getting printed and it's there for somebody to get picked up or is there some other end where that green stuff gets less or how does this work?

There is this thought about how many "normal" people have to work to make money in a Company/Organisation to pay a CEO?
Haven't found an answer to this yet.

Let me ask you this --- is there anything wrong with what he does?

After all, this is the FREE MARKET --- If you get to do whatever you want with your own money, Mr. Icahn should have the same right and use his money the way he sees fit

Yeah, this FM-Religion/Believe-System... Is that "Freedom" really working? The bribing of politicians who need it to get elected and then owe to their contributors in giving back favors - that's democracy in action, by the people for the people, right!. But that's politics.

Let's look at market - constant achieved growth, let's say GDP is actually exponential, like the investors doing it, but looking at the repeating bubbles, stock market crashes, recessions and bail-outs happening, does it really work? Maybe it's just a symptom of achieved exponential growth in a limited environment an then bang, fallout because a ceiling is hit. All good for the general population.

Now, don't tell me about that bullshi 1% thing

They get to be 1% because they use their brain, and if you can't be amongst the 1%, hey, don't blame them, blame yourself for being too lazy to use YOUR brain

That's an interesting thought, indeed.99 % are stupid. One has to justify things, right? Great foundation for racism if it sticks in people's brains.

Perhaps you are just an Astroturfer getting paid to post here, doing great!

Re: Anything wrong?

[Anonymous Coward]

As a devil's advocate, I'd not want to say that... Sometimes the Icahns are the ones that create the Musks and Jobs. Someone has to give the unicorns their ten digits to get out the starting gate.

As for Rand, what a dreary world she portrays. Wonder if her ideal would be the US in the 1890s-1920s, where there were zero taxes, other than in imports, just whispering "union" meant being blacklisted, and a nice form of serfdom. I really wouldn't jump for joy living in Sinclair's "The Jungle", although I'd definitely avoid the sausage.

Re: Anything wrong?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have $2000 in my bank account to buy a Mac Book Pro. The current model is over a year old. If they don't update the specs soon, then I'm going to have to buy a Windows laptop.

Re:Anything wrong?

[NotAPK]

Agenda for a New Economy covers the issues of what the author calls "phantom wealth".

It's an excellent read and I highly recommend it.

Re: Anything wrong?

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple have never been the first with any of those, innovative no, well designed and well marketed, yes

Re:Anything wrong?

[mrclevesque]

"If the parents are smart, they'd ..."

So you do agree with no-body.

Re: Anything wrong?

[Karlt1]

So exactly which market should Apple get into that even has a chance to be one fourth the size of the smart phone market?

Which electronics company is being innovative?

Re:Anything wrong?

[wwalker]

They get to be 1% because they use their brain, and if you can't be amongst the 1%, hey, don't blame them, blame yourself for being too lazy to use YOUR brain

Now that's pure unadulterated bullshit. 1% made their money because they had plenty of starting capital and because they are all connected to each other. So they can influence a lot of things in their favor, they get a lot of information that the rest of the public either never gets, or gets too late, and they can quickly accomplish a lot of things via their connections with a simple phone call. Yes, you have to be smart to get even near the top 1%, but brains by far is not the only requirement.
  As far as the "free market", that even more laughable. Watch "The Big Short" for a few examples of how people with real brains struggled against the 1% and the supposedly "free market", and what happened in the end (spoiler alert, the same 1% are still there even though they were the direct cause of the crash and should have been the most exposed to it).

Re: Anything wrong?

[jc42]

All Ayn Rand disciples built the log cabins they were born in.

Ah, but did they make the tools (saws, hammers, nails, etc.) used to build their log cabins? Did they mine and smelt the steel to make those tools? If not, they they still took advantage of the education and labor of earlier people. ;-)

Re:Anything wrong?

[Dogtanian]

It is funny how while Jobs was alive, he was apparently nothing more than a marketing charlatan, but once he was gone, Apple was doomed without his innovative genius.

That's odd, because I recall the mass media generally treating Jobs as a borderline-messiah/genius figure synonymous with Apple when he *was* alive. I also recall a significant number of people making claims that Apple's success was primarily down to marketing even then.

What I don't see is any significant change en masse of those attitudes since he died.

The only thing I noticed- if anything- is that since his death, the fact that Jobs was a borderline sociopathic asshole at a personal level seems to have been more widely-acknowledged by the same mass media, without this fundamentally altering opinion of his work at Apple.

Regardless, there's no contradiction between the fact that much of Apple's success *might* have been down to Jobs being a marketing charlatan, and that he was a genius at such marketing that Apple is suffering from the loss of. Personally, despite my significant dislike of many aspects of Apple, I'd have to say that crediting it all to marketing ignores the fact that while they didn't invent the MP3 player nor the smartphone, they *did* significantly improve and innovate aspects of their design and consumer-friendliness. Marketing was- of course- a major part of their success as well, but not the entirety. And while Jobs was neither the designer nor engineer of those products, he did seem to have a clear vision of where they should be going and how products did- or didn't- work.

Re:Anything wrong?

[gtall]

According to NYT, Icahn is worth about $20 Billion. He's more or less a leech and tried to get Apple to make several stupid moves. If he's sold Apple, is it because he thinks he can make more somewhere else. And he's just come out for Trump. Trump claims to be worth $10 Billion. Given his long distance relationship with truth, I'd guess it is closer to $1 Billion or below.

Re:Anything wrong?

[angel'o'sphere]

Let me ask you this --- is there anything wrong with what he does?

After all, this is the FREE MARKET --- If you get to do whatever you want with your own money, Mr. Icahn should have the same right and use his money the way he sees fit

No one has the right to bankrupt someone else just because he is using his money in a clever way.

However I agree with the rest of your post.

I'm not buying any iPhones or iPads anymore unless they are back to iPhone 3/4 level of UI and interaction. The new stuff is just bollocks. Same for iPads. Wow, the iPad Pro can do "Split Screen", that is an inovation? Every iPad should be able to do that since inception and not a split screen with two apps but as many as the user wants.

IMHO the big mistake was to say: an iPad is not a desktop replacement. And then a decade later: oh it is!

Bottom line I want both iPads as iPhones to run Mac OS X.

My next "Tablet" is an Android or a linux one, I want a real OS on my tablet, not a joke that runs Apps.

Re:Anything wrong?

[angel'o'sphere]

You forgot: Under Cook, Apple was the first company to make a smartwatch.

Actually it was not.
There were plenty of SmartWatchs out that connected to iPhones or Android phones before Apple came up with its version.

Re:Anything wrong?

[angel'o'sphere]

Well, if he makes another trillion for his to use, have you ever thought, where this money is coming from, like who is creating it? Is it just getting printed and it's there for somebody to get picked up or is there some other end where that green stuff gets less or how does this work?
Buying stocks, selling them, short or not, does not create money.

Money is "created" via loans. Nothing else. There is not even need to print any extra money.

Re: Anything wrong?

[angel'o'sphere]

Virtual reality, Augmented reality, etc.

Imagine sitting at home in your living room and it transforms into a (place in a) stadium, watching a famous football game and your friends with similar hardware sitting in their own living room are sitting right besides you.

Real stadium visitors in front and farer around of you.

That was an obvious idea 20 -15 years ago, but no one builds it. Perhaps Apple is the first one.

The "technology" we have, just not the "product".

Would be like a Skype conversation or iChat conversation with multiple participants.

Re: Anything wrong?

[Karlt1]

And what's the addressable market and the replacement rate? Even before the iPhone came out the phone market was huge and obviously growing.

Re: Anything wrong?

[angel'o'sphere]

People buy yards wide TVs meanwhile ... why would they not buy a home entertaining VR "room".

Re: Anything wrong?

[Karlt1]

How many people buy yard long tvs? What's the profit margin on televisions (very slim). What's the replacement cycle for tvs (7-8 years). Now put all that together does that sound like a profitable business?

Re: Anything wrong?

[angel'o'sphere]

No idea to all of this.

I have no TV at all.

But walking through the streets of my town I regularly see at night huge TVs

Re: Anything wrong?

[Karlt1]

That's not the point. in Western countries at least, in a typical middle class family each family member over 13 probably has a phone and it's replaced like every two years. Why would VR be anymore successful than 3D tvs?

Re: Anything wrong?

[angel'o'sphere]

Because for starters: no one wants a 3D TV. And for the idiots making 3D videos: it makes no sense to exaggerate 3D impressions just to be able to print 3D on the cover. We live in a 3D environment. We hardly realize it is 3D, and we hardly realize if we something 2D like a flat screen of a laptop. 3D effects in movies are: "look we do 3D" and actually hurt the eyes and the brain. Hurt as in pain, not as in damage.

When I go with friends into the cinema we always chose the non 3D version. For various reasons.
Then again VR is "3D", too. But accomplished in a different way.

And my argument was not the viewing experience but the social one. Imagine to watch "The Gladiator" together with friends, but at remote places, sitting live together in a simulated VR environment on the ranks of the stadium.
That is something completely different than 3D "video".
I actually know no one who has one or considers buying a one.

Re:Buy Low, Sell High

[ArmoredDragon]

I doubt he would care to do that, because Apple's stock probably won't increase any time soon. The reason Apple saw a YoY revenue decline is because of the so called "peak iphone", and presently 65% of Apple's revenue comes from guess what. Unless by some miracle Apple can reproduce the same growth they've had in the last 10 years (smartphone market is now matured and saturated and is now starting to go through what the PC market is going through, so good luck with that) their stock is only going to decline for the foreseeable future. So yeah, it's a good time to get out of Apple.

Re: Buy Low, Sell High

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Hi. Welcome to "capitalism".

As they [Lurch] said in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: "RULES???!!!??? In a knife fight???"

Other news at Apple...

[__aaclcg7560]

This has been an incredibly difficult week for Apple. The company shed more than $40 billion in market capitalization on Tuesday evening following its fiscal first-quarter earnings report, which showed a much steeper decline than Wall Street was expecting in both profit and iPhone sales. Then, just one day later, tragedy struck Apple's Cupertino, California headquarters when one of the company's employees was found dead in a conference room on campus.

http://bgr.com/2016/04/29/apple-suicide-cupertino-campus-recap/

Re:Other news at Apple...

[__aaclcg7560]

It's against most corporations' policies to have a gun in the workplace, but I have yet to see one with a metal detector at the entrance to normal office space.

The corporate headquarters for eBay in North San Jose has revolving doors, metal detectors, armed security guards and patrol dogs at the main entrance, which is open to the public during regular business hours. Angry customers and users storming the barricades with torches and pitchforks was always a serious possibility while working there. At other eBay campuses, the security is what you would expect for a typical office building or campus.

Re:Other news at Apple...

[__aaclcg7560]

Can you just walk into the office with a gun in America?

Most of the time. Corporate headquarters tend to have metal detectors in the main entrance as the general public is regarded as a potential security threat. Employee entrances that are accessible by key card don't have metal detectors. Nothing prevents a determined employee from packing heat and going postal on the job.

I like that

[rsilvergun]

folks coming to their senses and not paying $2000 for a $600 laptop didn't make the list. Yeah, yeah, I know it's the only good option for Unix + 100% Working WiFi. Then again, I can get a pretty sweet phone for $200 unlocked from newegg now so there's some pressure there. The difference between a decent smart phone and top of the line got a lot smaller these last 2 years.

Re:Buy Low, Sell High

[rsborg]

I doubt he would care to do that, because Apple's stock probably won't increase any time soon. The reason Apple saw a YoY revenue decline is because of the so called "peak iphone", and presently 65% of Apple's revenue comes from guess what. Unless by some miracle Apple can reproduce the same growth they've had in the last 10 years (smartphone market is now matured and saturated and is now starting to go through what the PC market is going through, so good luck with that) their stock is only going to decline for the foreseeable future. So yeah, it's a good time to get out of Apple.

You realize your call of "peak iphone" has been called before like about a hundred times. Is it going to be a rough quarter for Apple? Sure. But I really really doubt it's the beginning of the end...

Re:Buy Low, Sell High

[jcr]

The reason Apple saw a YoY revenue decline is because of the so called "peak iPhone",

Nope. The reason there was a revenue decline is because in the year-ago quarter, there was a spike of orders due to pent-up demand from backlogs in the previous quarter. In effect, two quarters' worth of demand was sold in a single quarter.

The fact remains that Apple's sales and profits this quarter are still far and away the biggest in the industry.

-jcr

Year-over-year?

[GrahamCox]

26% year-over-year
br Makes it sound like they've been declining for several years. They've had their first dip in revenue in 13 years - I think it's a bit early to say if that represents a 26% decline "year over year" or whether it's just a blip. But hey, let's all get on the whole "Apple is doomed!" bandwagon all over again. What is this, the 1990s?

Re:Year-over-year?

[sittingnut]

"Year-over-year" is just financial jargon and has a specific meaning in that context.
it is rather absurd to base an argument by taking alleged literal meaning over jargon meaning.

what next? for example, when you read word 'trojan' here, do you expect to see hector or his ilk? or do you expect the legendary greek wooden horse that tricked the trojans?

btw if you are so confident about apple and think you know better than icahn and other investors, all you have to do is to take a long position( and i don't mean any change in your body length or some such) on the stock. may be you will become a billionaire like him.

Re:Year-over-year?

[Paradise Pete]

br Makes it sound like they've been declining for several years.

You're taking it wrong. Y/Y means the same quarter of a year ago, rather than the previous quarter. The reason for doing this is to remove seasonal biases from the comparison.

there is a place in nature for hyenas..

[zr]

..and there's a place in the free market place for icahns.

Re: Buy Low, Sell High

[Dunbal]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Goldman Sachs does this several times a minute every minute of every trading day. It's only illegal if you coerce others into selling via the press, etc.

Re: Buy Low, Sell High

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple's revenue declined for the first time in it's iphone history. It was mainly due to iphone6 being immensely successful. iPhone 6 revenue grew about 30% compared to previous year. You can't maintain that kind of growth every year. Even this quarter's declined revenue is better than what they earned two years ago.

Re: Buy Low, Sell High

[Tough Love]

Goldman Sachs does this several times a minute every minute of every trading day.

Several times a millisecond.

Come on, Carl!

[Applehu Akbar]

Don't judge all Apple software by iTunes.

He's 80 years old

[Anonymous Coward]

He'll be dead soon, and he'll never have time or health enough to spend even a tiny penny of his money.

So all the companies he's screwed over will get the last laugh.

I particularly remember the scumbags tricks to damage. He pretended to be an investor (he actually held options instead), he drove the shareprice down from $17 to $12/share. He lied pretending the Microsoft offer was worth $20/share, it was actually worth $8/share (a loan is not income Carl).

Microsoft's deal included buying a portion of shares at $20, that was likely Icanns reward.

Fuck him.

Re:He's 80 years old

[inode_buddha]

Loans are not income, therefore they are not taxed :D maybe that was his thinking?

Name change

[ChunderDownunder]

iCahn't

Re:Buy Low, Sell High

[SvnLyrBrto]

You forgot to call Apple "beleaguered" and suggest that to Dell should buy them out so as to shut everything down and refund the money to the shareholders.

Re:Buy Low, Sell High

[SvnLyrBrto]

The thing I don't get is how all of Wall Street, the investing community in general, and all of corporate America as a whole aren't on to his game. I'm basicaly penny-ante as an investor, and I know that Ichan is a steaming sack of shit, that every word that he spews from his noise hole is a lie and part of a scheme to manipulate the market and damage a company for his own short-term gain and to hell with anyone and everyone else, and that if he ever takes any interest in a company that company should do the opposite of anything Ichan suggests or desires. Obviously Tim Cook knows that too and so does Michael Dell. So why don't more people/companies/whatever ignore his BS and tell him to go pound sand?

Re: Buy Low, Sell High

[BitZtream]

When you do it above the table, so everyone can see, its not illegal.

Its illegal to orchestrate the sell of stocks for that purpose in a hidden manner as such that it looks like the public confidence in the stock has plummeted rather than your own personal feelings.

He can do anything he wants to wreck Apples stock price more or less as long as its out in the open, public, with essentially no hidden agenda.

Thats not entirely true of course, there are limitations, but what he isn't breaking any of them by coming out publicly 3 years after he bought them and saying 'I don't trust it so I'm selling'

If he secretly convinced a bunch of other people to sell without announcing that it was a group decision, just so he could bottom the price and rebuy himself ... thats illegal as shit.

Re: Buy Low, Sell High

[zabbey]

It's not capitalism. There are no true capitalist markets on this planet. Apple wouldn't exist as it does if not for Government back forced protecting their Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights.

smart plan

[WindBourne]

The fact is, that Apple put all their manufacturing over in China and now that is being used against them.
And the Chinese gov is putting up more and more tariffs.
It is for this reason that I hope that Tesla will NOT put their best prizes over there just to gain a few $ more in sales.

Re: Buy Low, Sell High

[jc42]

If he secretly convinced a bunch of other people to sell without announcing that it was a group decision, just so he could bottom the price and rebuy himself ... thats illegal as shit.

That's not really a very good metaphor. Shit is quite legal in the US and most of the world. The plant nurseries hereabouts are now in full Spring-planting mode, and that includes selling sacks of cattle manure, both raw (dried and ground to a coarse sand) and composted (with the consistency of topsoil). It's fully legal, and good stuff for your garden.

So maybe we should find a more accurate X to use in phrases like "... as X", something that is at least somewhat illegal. ;-)