(
)
Apple shares jumped 3 percent late yesterday afternoon after the gadget maker said it was considering a proposal to return more cash to shareholders.
The move by the Cupertino, Calif., tech titan came hours after David Einhorn, founder of $8 billion hedge fund Greenlight Capital, sued Apple as part of his strategy to get it to return some of its $137 billion cash hoard to shareholders.
Shareholders like Greenlight, for example, which owns 1.1 million Apple shares.
Einhorn has been pushing the company for months to issue preferred shares as a way of doling out chunks of its mammoth cash pile.
The preferred shares would pay out a dividend of roughly 4 percent and trade separately from the common stock.
After face-to-face talks, Apple rejected Einhorn’s plan in September — and then recently asked shareholders to remove the board’s ability to issue preferred stock without shareholder approval.
A vote on that proposal is expected to take place at the Feb. 27 annual meeting.
Einhorn, who viewed Apple’s proposal as an attempt to put up a barrier to his stock plan, responded with his lawsuit.
Einhorn also sent out a letter asking shareholders to nix Apple’s proposal.
The Manhattan federal court suit claims Apple’s bundling of different proposals into one ballot initiative violates regulatory rules.
If there is a vote, Einhorn could have a tough time convincing his fellow shareholders to stand by him.
Anne Simpson, portfolio manager at the $254.1 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which owns 2.3 million Apple shares, is supporting Apple, not Einhorn.
Florida’s State Board of Administration, which manages $127 billion in state pension money, also tends to look askance at dual-class structures, Michael McCauley, an SBA executive, told The Post.
“We welcome Greenlight’s views and the views of all of our shareholders,” Apple said yesterday.