PUTTING HIS MONEY WHERE HIS MOUTH IS: Investor extraordinaire Carl Icahn, who owns about 53 million Apple shares, thinks the company will be selling cars by 2020.
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn and Brett Icahn, his son and portfolio manager, on stuck to their views that Apple Inc would introduce a television set and a car.
The elder Icahn, in an interview with cable business channel CNBC, also said his disagreement with the technology giant was over the company not doing bigger share buybacks.
"I believe they will do a TV," Icahn said, added that "the one thing that I disagree with the company on is not buying a great deal more stock."
Brett Icahn said: "We believe they're going to do a car."
Carl Icahn owned about 53 million Apple shares at the end of the first quarter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
In an open letter to Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook on his website, Icahn said Apple should be trading at US$240 (RM866.70), nearly double its current price, and he believed the company was poised to enter the television market by 2016 and the automobile market by 2020.
The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Apple had scrapped plans to introduce an ultra-high-definition television set more than a year ago.
Icahn portfolio manager David Schechter said: "It is dangerous to assume that they’re not going to introduce new products in new categories in the future."
Icahn, who has pushed Apple to boost buybacks since announcing his stake in the company in August 2013, said his prodding had helped the company. Apple boosted its repurchase program in April to US$140bil (RM505.5bil) from US$90bil (RM325bil) announced last year.
"I think I helped the company, I think I did, and I think few could deny that some of my influence, maybe some, helped them to buy more stock, and that’s all I’m trying to do again," Icahn said.
Icahn also said ride-sharing firm Lyft Inc was "growing in a compelling way" and that, if rival Uber was worth US$50bil (RM180.5bil), Lyft was worth far more than US$2bil (RM7.2bil).
Icahn also said the failed proxy battle by Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management against US chemical conglomerate DuPont was a "shame," and proof "the system is dysfunctional."
Icahn was not immediately available for comment. — Reuters
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