CEO Steve Jobs tells shareholders there are no changes to its stock.CUPERTINO, California (Reuters) - Apple Inc has no plans to declare a dividend or buy back stock, Chief Executive
Steve Jobs told the annual meeting of shareholders on Tuesday, adding
that iPhone sales were on track.
Jobs said he was confident that Apple would hit its 2008 sales
target of 10 million iPhones, a figure which some analysts have
questioned in the face of a weaker U.S. economy, and executives said
the communications device would reach Asian markets this year.
But Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook was elusive on timing for selling into the key market of China.
"We will enter Asia with the iPhone in 2008 ... We will one day
enter China, we're not saying when, and we will one day enter India,"
Cook said.
Jobs was asked if the company planned to start paying a dividend or
initiate a stock buyback program. "At this time, we have no plans to do
either," he told shareholders.
The company's stockpile of cash and short-term investments topped
$18 billion at the end of last year, leading to speculation about how
the maker of iPods, iPhones and Macintosh computers might spend some of
its cash reserves.
Shares of Apple were up 57 cents at $122.30 in afternoon trade on Nasdaq.
Investors at the meeting took the opportunity to tell management
that they wanted more of a say in how the company was run, passing a
resolution in favor of an annual advisory vote by shareholders on
executive compensation.
The proposal had been opposed by the board of directors. It urged
the board to put up to shareholders a nonbinding resolution each year
regarding pay of top executives.
(Reporting by Scott Hillis, writing by Peter Henderson, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
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