Activist investor Carl Icahn told Apple on Thursday to get off its $133 billion cash pile (which is as large as Slovakia's entire economy) and buy back more shares.
"We believe Apple is dramatically undervalued in today's market, and the more shares repurchased now, the more each remaining shareholder will benefit ...," Icahn said in a letter to Apple's board. Icahn, who pledged to keep his own stock out of any repurchase, said Apple stock should be trading at $203. The investor owns about 53 million shares and has urged Apple before to buy back shares. The company's shares were up 1 percent at $101.91 in early trading on Thursday. In response to the letter, Apple wrote to CNBC that it "always appreciate[s] hearing from our shareholders. Since 2013 we've been aggressively executing the largest capital return program in corporate history. As we've said before, we will review the program annually and take into account the input from all of our shareholders."
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-- NBC News, CNBC and Reuters