Apple managed to silence Carl Icahn with its recent share buyback

Well played Apple CEO Tim Cook. You managed to silence Twitter happy, media loving billionaire investor Carl Icahn for a few minutes. In a letter to Apple shareholders, Icahn said he’s going to back down over squawking about share buybacks and how the company uses its cash. Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the company bought $14 billion of its own shares in two weeks and has new products in the pipeline. 

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has backed off from his campaign urging Apple Inc to increase its stock buybacks, citing the company’s recent repurchases as well as an influential proxy adviser’s call against his proposal. In a letter to Apple shareholders on Monday, Icahn wrote he was ditching his non-binding proposal to force Apple to add another $50 billion to its stock buyback plan, “especially when the company is already so close to fulfilling our requested repurchase target.”  Apple shares closed up 1.8 percent higher at $528.99 on Monday. For months Icahn had been asking Apple to boost its stock buyback program, proposing the iPhone maker repurchase another $50 billion. On Sunday, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc recommended shareholders vote against Icahn’s nonbinding proposal, saying the motion would “micromanage” how the company uses capital.