NEW YORK (AP) Thirty-six years after its founding, Apple Inc. is finally loosening up its purse strings to reward shareholders directly, by instituting a dividend and share buyback program.
Investors had been expecting Monday's announcement, driving up Apple shares 37 percent since management hinted in January that a dividend was in the works.
Apple, the world's most valuable company, sits on $97.6 billion in cash and securities. For years, CEO Steve Jobs resisted calls to reward shareholders with some of that money. He used to say that the money was better used to give Apple maneuvering room, for instance by giving it the ability to buy other companies.
Jobs died in October after a long fight with cancer. On Monday, new CEO Tim Cook said that with this much cash on hand, a dividend wouldn't restrain the company's options.
``These decisions will not close any doors for us,'' he told analysts and reporters on a conference call.
Apple generated $31 billion in cash in the fiscal year that ended in September, and is on pace to generate even more in the current year. That means its cash pile will continue to grow even with a dividend and a buyback program, albeit at a lower rate.