Icahn: AAPL Needs a $150B Stock Buyback

Following a dinner with Apple CEO Tim Cook Monday night, big time investor Carl Icahn went to Twitter to say that he's pushing the Mac, iPhone, and iPad maker to invest US$150 billion into its stock buyback program. Mr. Icahn currently has a stake in Apple worth more than $1 billion, and clearly is in a position to bend. Mr. Cook's ear.

In a post on Twitter Tuesday morning, Mr. Icahn said,

Had a cordial dinner with Tim last night. We pushed hard for a 150 billion buyback. We decided to continue dialogue in about three weeks.

The two have already talked about high finances and whatever else the extremely wealthy discuss. In August Mr. Icahn said he had be speaking with Mr. Cook about expanding Apple's stock buyback program and that they would be speaking again soon.

Carl Icahn wants Apple to invest even more in its stock buyback programCarl Icahn wants Apple to invest even more in its stock buyback program

Apple's current buyback program is set at $60 million and should be completed by the end of 2015. Mr. Icahn, however, thinks Apple's stock is undervalued and that the company needs to more aggressively buy back its own shares.

With Mr. Icahn's revelation that he'll be talking again with Mr. Cook in about three weeks indicates Apple's CEO is at least open to the idea of increasing the stock buyback. Waiting three weeks also gives Mr. Cook time to get through launching new iPads and OS X Mavericks -- assuming that's on his near term schedule.

Apple is currently trading at $485.33, up 8.58 (1.80%).