Apple announces plans for $121b

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo / AP

Apple will announce today what it plans to do with its vast cash balance of about US$100 billion ($121 billion) from its hugely successful products including the iPad and iPhone.

Apple said chief executive Tim Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer would hold a conference call "to announce the outcome of the company's discussions concerning its cash balance".

Speculation mounted yesterday about what Apple would do with the cash. News agency Bloomberg tipped the tech giant would announce a dividend for investors, perhaps of about US$2 a share.

Others raised the possibility of a bolder move - buying micro-blogging site Twitter. Howard Lindzon, founder of finance blogging service StockTwits, said in a post:

"It has to be Twitter. They can afford it. Even if they overpay for Twitter - say US$12 billion, the market would chase the synergies higher for a long time."

In its most recent quarter, Apple reported a record profit of US$13.06 billion while revenue soared to US$46.33 billion.

Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the latest quarter, up 128 per cent from a year ago, and 15 million iPads, an increase of 111 per cent.

Its new iPad tablet went on sale at the weekend with Apple fans lining up from Sydney to San Francisco to snap up the latest model of the tablet computer.

- AAP