Carl Icahn ends bid to get Apple to increase its stock buyback

In a letter to Apple shareholders published on Monday, activist investor Carl Icahn announced he was dropping his shareholder proposal that would have asked Apple Inc. to buy back $50 billion of stock this year.

The move came after an influential advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services, weighed in on the debate by telling shareholders they should vote against Icahn’s proposal.

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But Icahn also pointed to Apple’s accelerated pace of stock buyback, recently disclosed by Chief Executive Tim Cook. He said the company has bought back $14 billion of its stock in the past two weeks.

ISS estimated that Apple would likely be on a pace to buy back $32 billion of its stock this year.

“We see no reason to persist with our nonbinding proposal, especially when the company is already so close to fulfilling our requested repurchase target,� Icahn said in the letter.

The move ends a campaign by Icahn that began last August when he announced he had bought considerable stock in Apple. Although the company had announced a plan earlier in 2013 to spend $100 billion on dividends and stock buybacks, Icahn said the company was undervalued and needed to buy back even more.

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