Apple Releases a Response to Greenlight Capital; Says Will Thoroughly Evaluate Proposal

By early last year, Apple's cash balance had built to a point beyond what weneeded to run our business and maintain flexibility to take advantage ofstrategic opportunities, so we announced a plan to return $45 billion toshareholders over three years. As of next week we will have executed $10billion of that plan.We find ourselves in the fortunate position of continuing to generate largeamounts of cash, including $23 billion in cash flow from operations in thelast quarter alone.Apple's management team and Board of Directors have been in active discussionsabout returning additional cash to shareholders. As part of our review, wewill thoroughly evaluate Greenlight Capital's current proposal to issue someform of preferred stock. We welcome Greenlight's views and the views of all ofour shareholders.As a part of our efforts to further enhance corporate governance and serve ourshareholders' best interests, Proposal #2 in our proxy includes somerecommended changes to our articles of incorporation. These changes wererecommended independently of Greenlight's proposal and would not precludeApple from adopting their concept. Contrary to Greenlight's statements,adoption of Proposal #2 would not prevent the issuance of preferred stock.Currently, Apple's articles of incorporation provide for the issuance of“blank check” preferred stock by the Board of Directors without shareholderapproval. If Proposal #2 is adopted, our shareholders would have the right toapprove the issuance of preferred stock. As such, Proposal #2 has the supportof many of our shareholders.We remain committed to having an ongoing dialogue with our shareholders to getperspectives around return of capital and driving shareholder value.