ac1234

Let me help some of you understand the issue of buybacks as I have opined on:

Rough figures, Apple has spent about $100 billion on repurchases since the inception of the current program.  There are roughly 6 billion shares outstanding.

So, add $100 billion from the cash horde - you now have $200 billion to distribute to shareholders.  Spread that out over the 6 billion shares and you get $33.33/share.

If you held 5000 shares you would receive $166,000 in a dividend.

By contrast, we get a $2 dividend per share/year - $10,000 a year.