Billionaire Carl Icahn, who first disclosed his stake in Apple Inc. almost three years ago, has sold out of his position, the activist said Thursday.
Icahn sold most of his remaining stake in February, Icahn told CNBC. Apple shares declined 1.7 percent as of 2:11 p.m. in New York, giving the company a market value of about $527 billion. They dropped more than 7 percent this year through Wednesday.
In the fourth quarter, Icahn sold 7 million Apple shares, leaving him with 45.8million shares worth $4.8 billion, according to a February regulatory filing. He reduced his holding just before the company’s shares started to slide this year on concerns that the smartphone market is becoming saturated and that China will no longer fuel sales growth.
After disclosing his Apple stake in August 2013, Icahn pushed Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook to return more of the company’s ballooning cash pile to investors. The iPhone maker stepped up its share buybacks and increased dividends, helping to fuel a 38 percent share rally in 2014. That petered outin 2015, when Apple shares declined 4.6 percent.