Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has dumped his Apple stock overnight, resulting in Apple Share value taking another dive.
The dumping comes as analystists finally realise that the Apple machine is running out of steam, Steve Jobs has passed on and the current management team under Tim Cook is struggling to deliver new products that deliver growth.
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| CNBC Image: Carl Icahn Dumps Apple Stock China a Major Concern. |
In an interview with CNBC in the USA overnight, Icahn said he has unloaded all of his Apple shares, citing concern about the tech giant’s challenges in China.
The 80-year-old investor said the stock is cheap and he still believes Apple is a “great company” and CEO Tim Cook is doing a “tremendous job.”
Yet his fears about China have prompted him to exit the stock. “China obviously could be a shadow for it,” he told CNBC, describing concerns about the government telling Apple what it can and can’t do.
Forbes Magazine said that Icahn started chipping away at his Apple stake months ago, selling $700 million worth of shares in the fourth quarter of 2015. That still left him with some 46 million shares, equivalent to less than 1% of the company.
The investment has been a successful one for Icahn. He estimates that he’s pocketed about $2 billion in profits and could return for more. “I hope to get back into [the stock] someday,” he said.
Since Icahn announced in a 2013 tweet he had taken a “large” position in the company after speaking with Tim Cook, he has been one of Apple’s biggest fans. Last year, he said the company was worth more than $1 trillion, at a time when its market capitalization was $700 billion. He’s routinely called the stock undervalued and misunderstood by the market and expressed hope that Apple would make an entrance into television and cars.
The stock was down nearly 2% following Icahn’s comments, after falling 6% yesterday on ugly quarterly earnings.
