As written by Carl Icahn on the Shareholders' Square Table [5]
Personal Views Concerning Media Reports On My Remarks re Markets and APPL from Reuters Summit
Reuters was completely accurate that I am concerned about the level of the market. But I also made it clear on the conference call (and I believe as Reuters reported it), that it is almost impossible to predict what a market will do in the short term. There are too many variables.
Often when we are concerned about the market, we hedge to some extent and this is one of those times. Interestingly, our investment funds had an annualized return of approximately 27% since January 1, 2009, and that return would have been greater if we had not hedged. As I have often said, picking short term moves in the market is like predicting how many sevens the “hot” dice player will continue to roll.
Concerning Apple, I told Reuters I believe that Apple is not a bank and that a large buyback should be put into place, as well as taking advantage of other ways this cash can be made more productive. While I do not micromanage, at the risk of being immodest, I believe that in the area of allocating capital there are very few better then we and we hope to be able to be involved, as a large shareholder, with Apple, in this area.