Rather than chasing an acquisition, Apple CEO Tim Cook has steered roughly $853.4 billion into buying back Apple's own stock — enough to acquire all but 12 companies in the S&P 500. The program has retired more than 44% of Apple's shares and lifted its earnings per share as Cook prepares to leave the CEO role.
Apple has directed a $853 billion investment not into an acquisition or AI data centers, but into its own shares. With that sum, the company could have acquired any of 487 S&P 500 companies, not counting itself. Instead, Tim Cook and Apple's board chose to keep buying the stock they already own.
Buybacks that reshaped the share count
Apple started repurchasing large amounts of its stock in 2013 and has not stopped. Annual buybacks climbed from $22.95 billion in 2013 to $94.949 billion in 2024, with $90.711 billion in 2025 and $36.989 billion so far in 2026 through the fiscal second quarter.
Collectively, Cook has overseen approximately $853.4 billion in share buybacks, a figure large enough to acquire all but 12 S&P 500 companies. Along the way, Apple has retired more than 44% of its outstanding shares. Because repurchases shrink the share count, they can raise earnings per share for a company with steady or growing net income.
Why Cook leaned into repurchases
Tax policy helped push the strategy forward. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law in December 2017, permanently lowered the peak marginal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, the lowest level since 1939. Keeping more of its earnings gave Apple room to repurchase stock without pulling capital from research and development, which is why buybacks jumped in 2018.
The approach also rewards patience. As the share count falls, long-term holders see their ownership stakes rise — a dynamic that Berkshire Hathaway's now-retired CEO, Warren Buffett, appreciated, given Berkshire's significant Apple stake.
A record as Cook steps back
Since Cook took over from Steve Jobs in August 2011, Apple shares have risen more than 2,600%, including dividends. He steps down from the CEO role on Sept. 1 and moves to executive chairman of Apple's board, closing a nearly 15-year run in which the buyback program became one of the company's defining bets.
Source: The Motley Fool
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