This doesn't happen very often.
Carl Icahn has been foiled in one of his activist investing ploys, and by none other than Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL).
Icahn's bid for an Apple stock buyback worth $50 billion ran aground today (Monday) when an influential proxy voting service, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), sided with Apple.
Icahn's nonbinding advisory resolution for the huge Apple stock buyback was one of 11 proposals to be voted on at the Feb. 28 annual shareholders meeting.
Apple had already recommended that shareholders vote against it, but the ISS report was a big hint that Icahn wasn't going to get a lot of support elsewhere, either.
"While the board has failed to articulate a strategy for addressing its long-term capital needs, it has returned the bulk of its U.S.-generated cash to shareholders," ISS, a subsidiary of MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), said in its report. "The board's latitude should not be constricted by a shareholder resolution that would micromanage the company's capital allocation."
ISS added that it would prefer to see Apple focus more on products than what it should or should not do with its cash reserves, which remain bloated at about $145 billion.
That, along with ongoing resistance from some other major Apple shareholders like Egan-Jones, another proxy advisory firm, was enough to get the usually stubborn Icahn to cry uncle.
On Monday the activist investor tried to put the best spin on his retreat, noting in a letter to Apple shareholders that the company already had repurchased $40 billion of its own stock in the past year, and $14 billion worth just since Apple reported earnings on Jan. 28.
"We see no reason to persist with our nonbinding proposal, especially when the company is already so close to fulfilling our requested repurchase target," Icahn wrote.
Wall Street was apparently relieved that the months-long battle was over, sending the Apple stock price up 1.79% to $528.99.
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Icahn began his quest to ramp up the Apple share buybacks last summer. In addition to sending out numerous tweets as he accumulated Apple shares, Icahn met with Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and in October published a letter to Cook describing the details of his plan.
Cook, for his part, maintained a polite but firm resistance. That and the unusually large amount of Apple stock buybacks that Icahn was demanding put off potential allies.
Icahn had kept up the pressure, and his own buying, through the New Year. Just a few weeks ago, he tweeted that he had purchased another $500,000 worth of AAPL, raising his stake in the company to $4 billion.
While having Icahn off its back is good for Apple, the company will still face shareholder restlessness if it fails to introduce at least one completely new major product this year.
In the long run, it will be new products aimed at new markets that will generate the profits needed to push Apple stock higher.
"Listen, I'd rather have the company come out with something new, something exciting," said Breakout's Jeff Macke. "If that happens, Icahn wins, I win, you win, everyone wins."
Do you agree with @Carl_C_Icahn that #Apple needs to buy back more shares, or do you think he was just creating needless headaches for the company? Tell us on Twitter @moneymorning or Facebook.
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About the Author
David Zeiler, Associate Editor for Money Morning at Money Map Press, has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including 18 spent at The Baltimore Sun. He has worked as a writer, editor, and page designer at different times in his career. He's interviewed a number of well-known personalities - ranging from punk rock icon Joey Ramone to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Over the course of his journalistic career, Dave has covered many diverse subjects. Since arriving at Money Morning in 2011, he has focused primarily on technology. He's an expert on both Apple and cryptocurrencies. He started writing about Apple for The Sun in the mid-1990s, and had an Apple blog on The Sun's web site from 2007-2009. Dave's been writing about Bitcoin since 2011 - long before most people had even heard of it. He even mined it for a short time.
Dave has a BA in English and Mass Communications from Loyola University Maryland.