Message: Apple's stock hits new high as gadget buzz builds
Apple's stock hits new high as gadget buzz builds
Posted at 11:19 AM on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009
By ANDREW VANACORE - AP Business Writer
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Apple's stock hits new high as gadget buzz builds
Apple Inc. shares hit an all-time high Thursday after a published report suggested the intensely scrutinized yet secretive company may be getting ready for a major product announcement.
Citing unnamed people familiar with the preparations, the Financial Times reported on its Web site Wednesday that Apple has rented space for several days in late January at an arts center in San Francisco.
The company is famed for its highly staged launches. CEO Steve Jobs has used past events to introduce groundbreaking - and lucrative - gadgets such as the iPod and the iPhone.
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Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes $1 salary in 2009
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs was paid his customary $1 annual salary in 2009, but Apple's strength through a rough economic climate returned the value of his personal holdings in the company to pre-meltdown levels.
Jobs does not get a bonus or reimbursement for perks many other CEOs accept, such as personal security, according to a regulatory filing made Wednesday. Apple said it reimbursed Jobs $4,000 for company travel on his $90 million Gulfstream V jet, which he received as a bonus in 1999.
That's far less than the $871,000 Apple reimbursed Jobs in 2008. The CEO took nearly six months off in 2009 for medical leave, during which time he received a liver transplant. He returned to work at the company's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters part-time at the end of June.
•
Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes $1 salary in 2009
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs was paid his customary $1 annual salary in 2009, but Apple's strength through a rough economic climate returned the value of his personal holdings in the company to pre-meltdown levels.
Jobs does not get a bonus or reimbursement for perks many other CEOs accept, such as personal security, according to a regulatory filing made Wednesday. Apple said it reimbursed Jobs $4,000 for company travel on his $90 million Gulfstream V jet, which he received as a bonus in 1999.
That's far less than the $871,000 Apple reimbursed Jobs in 2008. The CEO took nearly six months off in 2009 for medical leave, during which time he received a liver transplant. He returned to work at the company's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters part-time at the end of June.
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Business Highlights
Stocks end shortened session at new 2009 highs
NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks ended a holiday-shortened session Thursday at new highs for the year following upbeat reports on unemployment and durable goods orders.
A weaker dollar also helped buoy the market, lifting energy and materials stocks. Christmas Eve trading was extremely light.
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Apple countersues Nokia over phone patents
Apple Inc. is suing cell phone maker Nokia Corp. for patent infringement, a countermove to Nokia's earlier suit against technologies used in Apple's iPhone.
Apple's lawsuit claims Nokia is infringing on 13 of Apple's patents, and says the Finland-based company chose to "copy the iPhone," especially its user interface, to make up for its declining share of the high-end phone market.
Nokia's lawsuit, filed in October, claims that Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple infringes on 10 of its patents covering both phone calls and Wi-Fi access.
NEW YORK -- Apple Inc. shares hit an all-time high Thursday after a published report suggested the intensely scrutinized yet secretive company may be getting ready for a major product announcement.
Citing unnamed people familiar with the preparations, the Financial Times reported on its Web site Wednesday that Apple has rented space for several days in late January at an arts center in San Francisco.
The company is famed for its highly staged launches. CEO Steve Jobs has used past events to introduce groundbreaking - and lucrative - gadgets such as the iPod and the iPhone.
Although Apple has not acknowledged working on a tablet computer - the company is notorious for keeping upcoming product plans closely guarded - analysts expect the company's next blockbuster to be something of a cross between a laptop and an iPod Touch, which is essentially an iPhone without the calling features.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request Thursday for comment on the FT report.
In a note to investors this month, Oppenheimer's Yair Reiner said Apple could have a tablet out by late March or April based on checks with contacts in the U.S.
Brian Marshall, an analyst with Broadpoint AmTech, expects the device to launch late in the first quarter, but he said the rise in Apple shares Thursday had more to do with investor behavior at the end of the year.
He said that after cashing in from the rise in Apple shares over the past few months, "people are coming back to the well," betting the stock will head even higher in 2010.
Apple shares hit an all-time high of $209.35 at one point on Thursday, topping the previous record of $208.71, set Oct. 21. The stock was up $6.94, or 3.4 percent, to $209.04 in afternoon trading.
Apple shares have recovered from a 52-week low of $78.20 in January, helped by consistently growing profits.
Even during the worst of the recession, people continued to buy iPods, iPhones and Mac computers. In its most recent quarter, the Cupertino, Calif., company reported a 47 percent jump in net income to $1.7 billion, on revenue of $36.5 billion.
With a market capitalization of more than $182 billion, Apple is now bigger than rival computer makers Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. combined. Dell has a market cap of about $28 billion, while HP is at $124 billion.
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