Apple is going to lose a boatload of cash tomorrow. But it’s unlikely the company will notice in any meaningful way. After all, when you have the kind of capital that Apple is sitting on, how much is $2.5 billion in the grand scheme of things.
On Thursday, the tech giant will release $2.5 billion to shareholders in the company’s first quarterly dividend payment in 17 years.
“We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure…” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in March.
“Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business,” he added. “So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program.”
Apple’s share buyback and dividend plan will consume approximately $45 billion from Apple’s still-enormous capital reserves over the next three years.
