newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Apple, Inc. is on a fast track to become the largest revenue earning technology company in the world, and this past Christmas they experienced the second-most profitable quarter in history by any U.S. corporation.

Now for the first time since 1995, Apple is giving back to the stockholders.

According to sfgate.com, investors will receive a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share starting in its fiscal fourth quarter beginning July 1. Also, they will be buying back $10 billion of its shares over a three-year period starting in October.

The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had long hesitated in issuing dividends. The last time the company offered a dividend was in 1995, before Jobs returned as company CEO.

Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized that the company had more than enough cash to afford to do so and still have enough left over to innovate. “We have plenty to run the business, and we felt it would be the right action to declare a dividend,” Cook said, according to the San Jose Mercury News. "It's great for shareholders," he said, "and it's fantastic for attracting new investors."

Apple’s first earnings report of 2012 showed a 118 percent jump in profit for January.

The company will be using $45 billion of the $97.6million it has on hand. CNN reports that Apple will be using its domestic cash, because the large amounts of cash it holds in overseas markets would be subject to a rather large "repatriation tax" if returned to the U.S.

CNN also reported that AT&T issued a brief press release on Friday announcing that they had set a new one day record for sales of iPads and activations.