AAPL Spells 'Dividend' for Apple Stock Holders; Company Plans Payout, Stock Buy-Back
Apple announces plan to pay investors billions of dollars in dividends.


Apple is finally acknowledging that it has more money than it needs. But don't expect it to cut prices on iPhones and iPads. Instead, the company said on Monday that it will reward its shareholders with a dividend and a stock buyback program.

Apple, the world's most valuable publicly traded company, sits on $97.6 billion in cash and securities.

The company has stockpiled the cash through a combination of great ideas and prudence. Apple spends money, to be sure, building data centers, buying parts for its products and pursuing ambitious projects such as a new 2.8-million-square-foot headquarters that has been likened to a spaceship. It also invests in the research and development of new technology and negotiates an occasional acquisition.

But Apple simply hasn't managed to spend its earnings faster than people are lining up to buy its iPads, iPhones and other gadgets.

The decision to return some of that money to investors is a clear signal that Apple is taking a different approach in the post-Jobs era.

Former CEO Steve Jobs resisted calls to issue dividends for years. He argued that the money was better used to give Apple maneuvering room to acquire other companies, for instance. Apple did pay a.