Tim Cook To Dine With Carl Icahn To Speak On Share Buyback

Apple's current state of affairs in the public realm is one of massiveness – the company is worth billions of dollars, and here in the summer of 2013, one of its biggest investors is meeting with Tim Cook over lunch. This meeting will be centered on the possibility of buying back shares. According to Icahn, it wont be a discussion of if, but to what degree a buyback will be executed.

Icahn recently made headlines for his purchase of Apple stock that topped $1 billion USD, he saying then that the company was "extremely undervalued." Earlier this year, Apple also announced an increase in the company's capital return program – above $100 billion. That program was announced with aim at dividends, buybacks, and bonds – as MacRumors reminds us "for the first time in over a decade."

Icahn is currently letting information go public in a large way through his own personal Twitter account. It's there that – on the 13th of August – he suggested that Apple was extremely undervalued, and that he'd be having a chat with Tim Cook. After speaking with Cook, he noted the following:

"Had a nice conversation with Tim Cook today. Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now. We plan to speak again shortly." – Carl Icahn, August 13th, 2013

Fast forward to August 22nd (today) and Icahn has had another set of words with Cook and will be having dinner "in September."

"Spoke to Tim. Planning dinner in September. Tim believes in buyback and is doing one. What will be discussed is magnitude." – Carl Icahn, August 22nd, 2013

It is possible that Apple could be readying this buyback announcement for the (still unofficial) September 10th media event, but it's unlikely. Instead, expect this sort of an announcement to be made inside Apple's next quarterly earnings report.

For those of you that don't immediately recognize Icahn's name, you may want to check on news blasts over the past few years like the Dell buyout, chatter on Netflix purchases, and even as a note in Motorola's 2010 split. There you'll find Icahn and his team appearing as real movers and shakers in the technology industry.