Apple's response to Greenlight Capital suit to come by tomorrow
An expedited hearing may take place next week for the suit through which Greenlight Capital hedge fund is trying to force Apple to distribute high-yield preferred stock to shareholders.
Apple will soon respond to the lawsuit filed against it last week by David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple plans to file its response to Greenlight by tomorrow. Greenlight will then file its reply on Friday. The first hearing could take place as early as next week.
The Greenlight hedge fund filed a lawsuit against Apple last week, saying that the company should distribute high-yield preferred stock to shareholders. According to Greenlight, this would allow Apple to hold a large amount of its cash while giving shareholders more of the value of Apple's cash hoard.
Apple's cash reserves now total more than $137 billion. Apple has so far delivered $10 billion of its planned $45 billion to shareholders.
Yesterday, Judge Richard Sullivan of the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York granted Apple's request to fast-track the lawsuit.
That Apple is pushing ahead with the lawsuit isn't all that surprising. The company plans to hold a shareholders meeting on February 27 and doesn't want the lawsuit to take center stage. Apple has also made clear that it's willing to work with Greenlight to come to an amicable solution.
"Apple's management team and board of directors have been in active discussions about returning additional cash to shareholders," the company said last week. "As part of our review, we will thoroughly evaluate Greenlight Capital's current proposal to issue some form of preferred stock. We welcome Greenlight's views and the views of all of our shareholders."