If you’ve been wondering what the world’s most valuable company plans to do with its $97.6 billion cash stash, the answer came on Monday.
Apple announced it will begin giving shareholders a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share in its fourth quarter, which begins in July, and a $10 billion share repurchase program, reports CNN Money. The buyback will begin in October.
“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 a prepared statement.
“Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program,” he added.
The last time Apple offered a dividend was in 1995.