singularity

sog35 said:

singularity said:

And yet the board seem to love him, there's no shareholder revolt. I wonder why?

The board loves him because their pockets are lined with gold no matter if the stock goes up or down.

There are many shareholders who are getting impatient. If Apple goes to $90 you can bet you will see many shareholders calling for Tim Cooks head.

You do realise that by paying a fine to settle it is indicative that the price of waiting for final judgement would be far higher and is usually seen as an admission of guilt. Regardless of any press release saying they have done nothing wrong. Also every other country in the EU will be looking to see if Apple's tax structure is set out as too aggressive.
For example I do know that HMRC has the power to retrospectively declare a scheme as illegal even if for years it was OK and demand full repayment. That is a huge potential liability! So it can easily reflect in a drop in stock as some investors cash out now and consolidate any gains.
So in essence a fairly reasonable explanation to the stock price

SpamSandwich said:

cropr said:

It is European law (and not a loophole), that revenue (and the related profits) can be moved from one EU member state to another. In other words it is  sufficient to have a single company e.g. in Ireland that takes care of all business in the EU.  But it is not allowed to use "clever" tricks to pay only 2% corporate tax in Ireland instead of the normal 12.5%, because this is considered as state aid from Ireland to Apple,  which is considered as anticompetitive in the EU. So Italy claims that Apple abused the Irish tax law on the the revenue moved from Italy to Ireland.  Apparently Apple want to get rid of this burden and decided to pay.

Then Apple has a solid basis for suing Ireland for fraud, haven't they?

No

Maybe Apple should go private /s
Tim Cooks passion for civil rights is a shining example to all CEO's and frankly Jobs chose correctly on who to succeed him. IMHO he's been fantastic for Apple.

h2p said:

The Irish government helped set up at least a portion this scheme apparently. Does anyone know if they will pay the EU a fine? Perhaps 10 years of fines for their complicity in this tax arrangement?

No. Apple will have to stump up the cash owed.

mr. h said:

AppleInsider said:

Apple has also steadfastly denied allegations that it avoids taxes in Europe as well.

You mean “evades” here. It is clear that Apple avoids plenty of tax in Europe, totally legally and as is its right.


I think the EU has a different viewpoint on the legality of Apple's tax "rate"