Sales for Apple’s third generation iPad hit record numbers last weekend, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Speaking on a conference call to announce a dividend and stock buyback program, Cook said, “We had a record weekend, and we are thrilled with it.”
However, he declined to further elaborate on that comment, or to disclose when those weekend numbers would be made public.
Cook’s comment came on a conference call to announce Apple will pay its stockholders a dividend of $2.65 a share sometime after July, during the company’s fourth fiscal quarter; and a $10 billion stock repurchase program that will start after September 1, when the firm’s fiscal 2013 year commences.
Initiating Dividends
In the first year of the dividend program, Apple expects to pay out $10 million to shareholders. “It will make us one of the largest dividend-payers in the United States,” Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said on the conference call.
In addition to the domestic cash Apple will be using to fund its dividend and stock repurchase programs, it has some $100 billion in cash overseas which it isn’t about to bring home any time soon.
“Repatriating the cash from offshore would result in significant tax consequences under current U.S.law,” Oppenheimer said. “We think the current tax laws provide a considerable economic disincentive to U.S. companies that would might otherwise repatriate the substantial amount of foreign cash that they have.”
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