Tag Archives: Apple Inc.

Apple Facing Off with Justice Department Over Price Fixing of eBooks

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Conspiring to Raise Prices? Lawsuit Opens Today
Conspiring to Raise Prices? Lawsuit Opens Today

Today Apple Inc is going to trial over accusations being made by state and federal authorities that they conspired with book publishers to increase the cost of eBooks to consumers.

The US Justice Department is taking the famously popular producer of iPads and iPhones to court in a case that observers say will scrutinize how Internet businesses interact with their suppliers of content.

“This case will effectively set the rules for Internet commerce,” said David Balto, a former policy director for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The lawsuit was first filed against Apple along with five of the country’s six largest book publishers back in April, 2012. The suit alleges that they conspired to raise eBook prices in order to halt Amazon’s grip on book pricing.

Apple is on its own for the trial since all five publishers settled out of court by agreeing to halt their prohibitions on wholesale discounts in addition to paying together $164 million in damages for the benefit of consumers. The five publishers are: Pearson Plc’s Penguin Group, News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers Inc, CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster Inc, Hachette Book Group Inc and Macmillan.

The Justice Department is not pursuing monetary damages from Apple, but rather wants Apple to be forced to stop similar practices in the future. Apple is worried that if they are found guilty as charged they will then face separate trials by state attorneys general in which they will indeed by liable for monetary damages through class action lawsuits.
Apple’s chances of coming through the trial unscathed could be small, based on a comment made by the presiding judge at the last hearing before the trial.

“I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books,” said U.S. District Judge Denise Cote on May 23. The judge will hear the case without a jury.
With the judge’s opinion before the trial apparently against Apple, why then isn’t the giant computer company settling out of court?

Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an interview with All Things Digital that Apple was “not going to sign something that says we did something we didn’t do.”

Apple To Distribute a Record $100 Billion to Shareholders

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Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc

In an unprecedented move by any other company in history, Apple Inc will be distributing $100 billion in cash to its shareholders be the time the year 2015 comes to a close. This announcement comes at the same time as the news that Apple’s revenues during the present quarter could be less than last year for the same quarter, representing the first decline in several years.

CEO Tim Cook also hinted that Apple is not planning to release any new products this summer, which is contrary to rumors that consumers could expect new iPhones and iPads this coming summer.

The cash distribution will take the form of a $60 billion buy-back plan, the largest such program in history. In addition, Apple will be increasing the dividend on its stock from $2.65 to $3.05 per share, a 15 percent increase. That number translates to a dividend yield of 3 percent at today’s stock prices, which brings Apple more in line with other dividend-paying companies. The average yield for the top US dividend paying companies is 3.1 percent, says Standard & Poor’s.

Investors in Apple have been requesting that the incredibly successful high-tech company open up the company’s vaults and returning some of the cash on hand back to them. At the end of last month Apple’s collection of cash was announced to be an incredible $145 billion, an unprecedented amount. Shareholder’s inaccessibility to this cash cache, together with a dearth of new, innovative products, has been blamed for the huge loss in the value of Apple’s stock this past winter.

When the new iPhone 5 went on sale on September 21st, 2012, Apple’s stock reached a high point of $705.07. Even after a 5 percent rise to $425 per share after the company released its fiscal second quarter earnings Apple’s stock is now only valued at 40 percent of its peak price.

“The decline in Apple’s stock price over the last couple of quarters has been very frustrating for all of us … but we’ll continue to do what we do best,” CEO Tim Cook said.

“The most important objective for Apple will always be creating innovative products,” he added.

J.C. Penney’s New Executive Officer Is On The Move

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J.C. Penny Co. reported a net third quarter loss of $143 million. Lasts year’s third quarter showed a net profit of $44 million. This is J.C. Penney’s first losing quarter in two years and it is combined with declining revenues.

This month, J.C. Penney welcomed a new Chief Executive Officer, Ron Johnson, who ran Apple’s retail operations. Ron Johnson did great work at Apple and is very highly regarded. In 2010, he received $700,000 in salary and his total compensation was over 29 million dollars.

Immediately on starting at J.C. Penney, Johnson has been performing a strategic review of pricing, products, and promotional strategies to rebuild sales and revenue. Johnson told employees that “I’m not here to improve, I’m here to transform.”

Since his appointment in June Johnson has brought in Michael Francis from Target Corporation to the lead marketing effort and has also appointed 2 former executives from Apple to  serves as CEO and as chief talent officer.

Right now, the company needs to attract customers. One idea to attract younger customers would be to start coffee lounges with complementary WiFi. This would attract the kind of customers who buy at Apple stores, a consumer base that Ron Johnson has much experience with.

Some of J.C. Penney’s major managers are Marie Lacertosa, Ruby Anik, Michael T. Theilmann, Michael P. Dastugue, Ken Mangone, Clarence Kelley, Janet L. Dhillon, Thomas A. Clerkin and Michael Francis.

Eating Apples on the Job(s)?

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Whether it’s true or not, it’s definitely worth mentioning that co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. Steven Paul Jobs’s favorite food is apples…allegedly.  That fact one might have guessed.  But here are some other interesting anecdotes about Mr. Jobs one might not have known about.  He’s actually a dyslexic 501 Levis jeans lover, owning one hundred pairs of them.  As well, it took him until the age of 27 until he found his biological parents; a staggering 15 years after he’d found his first love — computers.  When he was 12, he saw a computer for the first time and immediately fell in love, deciding then and there that this would be the field he’d work in.


‘60’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Fan


Steve Jobs is a big Beatles fan.  Indeed, he even claims that he based his business plan on their musical career.  It must have been a pretty good idea, because together with his mega-Apple inventions, statistics released two years ago show him as the owner of 5.426 million shares in the company.  No doubt that gives the guy quite a lot of apple-purchasing potential.