Why is Linux less popular than OS X?

[Mikeb85]

A share price increase from $US82 in 2009 to $US420 that is fairly impressive "give back" to investors.

But we are off topic with this

Not what I meant. I mean the company putting cash back into the market, not enabling one investor to sell to another for a higher price.

Giving back = dividend or buy back.

[dpny]

BTW, that's how investing should work - if you own shares, you should get a dividend. That would make investing much less of a gambler's game.

That's one way it's supposed to work, and a relatively new idea in the history of capitalism. The other way is to do what Apple does, which is to put all the money back into the company.

Seems to be working well for them.

[Mikeb85]

That's one way it's supposed to work, and a relatively new idea in the history of capitalism. The other way is to do what Apple does, which is to put all the money back into the company.

Seems to be working well for them.

Except Apple is hardly doing that... They've got a cash hoard of nearly $100B.

And no, dividends are not a new idea. They go back at least to the 17th century. The idea of issuing stock and not distributing profits is the innovation.

[dpny]

Except Apple is hardly doing that... They've got a cash hoard of nearly $100B.

Are you aware of what Apple does with their cash?

They use it to ensure their production is never constrained by lack of components. They give loans to their component makers--low interest loans of several billion dollars--so their suppliers can do things like build new factories and enlarge assembly lines.

They also buy the odd company.

[KiwiNZ]

This thread has continued to go off topic

Closed for review