A Slice of Apple’s $100-Billion Pie

Apple pays dividends | BCBusiness
Apple will share the wealth with a quarterly dividend distributed beginning July 1.

The Silicon Valley tech superstar will use some of its $98 billion cash reserves to pay out its first dividends in almost two decades.

After a week riding the wave from its newest iPad launch, Apple is looking to share the wealth with its investors.
 
Apple Inc. announced Monday it would pay dividends on its stock for the first time since 1995. Investors (and employees) will get about $2.65 a share quarterly, beginning July 1. In big-picture terms, the dividend payout will catapult the company into one of the top slots for largest payout. In its first year, Apple will shell out $10 billion in dividends, ranking it just below Verizon and AT&T.
 
However, the price per share puts Apple on the lower end of payouts for comparable companies. The dividend constitutes about 1.7 per cent of the current stock price, which compares to a 2.5-per-cent dividend from Microsoft and three per  cent for Intel.
 
The most valuable company in the world is also launching a $10 billion share buyback program, which is meant to offset its employee stock program.
 
Despite the good news for investors that sent its stock soaring back to $600 a share, a nagging question remains – what would Steve Jobs do?
 
Jobs, who lost his battle with cancer in October, issued no dividends during his many years as CEO. The company kyboshed its dividends when Jobs came back onboard with Apple in the mid-1990s.
 
The change in direction has startled some investors. But only time will tell if the payouts will pay off for the tech giant.