Apple set to decide on its $98 billion cash hoard

PanARMENIAN.Net - Apple Inc, the world's most valuable company, is poised on Monday, March 19, to confront one of the biggest questions in corporate America: what it plans to do with its $98 billion cash hoard, Reuters reports.

Just days after its stock touched $600 per share, Apple issued a short press advisory saying it would hold a conference call on Monday to discuss the outcome of discussions about its cash balances. The move comes as investors have clamored for the company to return some of the money to shareholders.

The maker of the iPhone, iPad and iPod has $98 billion in cash and securities, equal to about $104 a share according to ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall.

Wall Street has increasingly bet that Apple will this year return cash to shareholders, taking their cue from Chief Executive Tim Cook's comments about "active discussions" at the top levels about the matter.

Cook recently said he had been "thinking very deeply" about investors' demands that Apple return some of the cash to shareholders via a dividend.