Cook Assures Apple Wont "Spin Cycles" On Proxy Fight

This week we're hearing quite a bit about a stockholder issue with Apple surrounding a lawsuit headed by David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital – and today Tim Cook has fired back. In a talk at this year's Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Tim Cook spoke about how Apple's biggest shareholder Greenlight Capital is suing the company, saying Apple should be dishing out more money to investors than they already do, saying that Preferred Stocks would be a good idea for the company. Cook spoke up today saying that the issue is being "considered" by Apple, but that in the end, it's all a bit of a waste of time.

Cook spoke up today responding to a question about the Greenlight Capital situation saying, "I don't think this is well understood. The disagreement centers around a question on Apple's policy. We filed this back in February, it's called Prop 2. It's not about whether Apple returns cash to shareholders, it's not about the mechanism Apple uses to return cash to shareholders ... what this proposal is about is the rights of shareholders."

With the Greenlight letter which you can see here, you'll find that the hedge fund recommends that Prop 2 be turned down. This proposal would "impede Apple's ability to unlock shareholder value" according to its authors. Cook has responded today saying, "I find it bizarre that we would find ourselves being sued for something that's good for the shareholders. It's a silly fight show, honestly. My preference would be that people on both sides take the money they're spending on this and donate it to a worthy cause."

Needless to say, Cook is voting yes, but isn't encouraging either side of the argument to be pushing harder than they need to with campaign dollars. Cook continued, "You're not going to see a 'Yes on 2" sign in my front yard. I support it, I'm personally going to for it. I encourage others to vote for it. ... But it's not something we're going to spin cycles on."

[via Apple]