Seeking Alpha Author Hector Andres Pacheco joins Cheddar to discuss how the new tax bill will impact special dividends given out by giant companies. In particular, he's looking at Apple and Microsoft to bring back billions of dollars from overseas.
The new tax bill will allow American companies to bring back money from overseas at a reduced tax price. Pacheco explains why Apple is a prime contender for a special dividend. It's on track to spend $300 billion returning capital to shareholders by 2019. If Apple repatriates all of its overseas cash its tax bill will only be $39 billion...only!
Plus, Microsoft is no stranger to shareholder-friendly action. In 2004 the company brought back about $30 billion in cash from abroad and issued a $3-a-share special dividend. Pacheco believes it plans to do the same thing in 2018.
Pacheco also talks about how a higher minimum wage for lower-income Americans plays a more stimulative role for the economy than giving higher wages to those with a large net worth.
Amid a backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty, more and more gamers are facing price hikes. Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. — up $80 from the $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020. And its more powerful Xbox Series X will be $599.99 going forward, a $100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing. The tech giant didn’t mention tariffs specifically, but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” Beyond the U.S., Microsoft also laid out Xbox price adjustments for Europe, the U.K. and Australia. The company said all other countries would also receive updates locally.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
Visa is hoping to hand your credit card to an artificial intelligence “agent” that can find and buy clothes, groceries, airplane tickets and other items on your behalf.
Shares of Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, are hitting three-year highs on Monday after it received a $3.6 billion proposed takeover offer from DoorDash.
X, the social media platform owned by Trump adviser Elon Musk, is challenging the constitutionality of a Minnesota ban on using deepfakes to influence elections and harm candidates.
The State Bar of California has disclosed that some multiple-choice questions in a problem-plagued bar exam were developed with the aid of artificial intelligence.
