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Apple's Cook, Icahn slated for Monday meetup, another report claims

The two men are expected to discuss Apple's share buyback program and the extent to which the company should purchase shares.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook and activist investor Carl Icahn are just days away from their big meetup.

Cook and Icahn will meet Monday to discuss a share buyback program Apple has instituted, All Things Digital reported on Friday, citing people familiar with their plans. The report comes just a day after David Faber of CNBC said that the two men would be meeting on Monday.

Last month, Icahn tweeted that he would be meeting with Cook in September, but didn't specify a date. In that tweet, he mentioned plans to discuss the "magnitude" of Apple's buyback program.

Icahn is a significant individual investor in Apple; reports of his stake range between $1.5 billion and more than $2 billion. Earlier this year, Apple announced that it would return $100 billion of its cash to shareholders through dividends and a $60 billion share buyback. Apple started buying back some shares last year. Icahn would like to see Apple increase its buyback program to reduce the number of available shares and cause its stock price to rise.

For its part, Apple has said that its buyback level is appropriate and that it has no plans to increase its investment in shares. It's possible Cook might make that point at his tete-a-tete with Icahn on Monday.