Carl Icahn is a very rich, very smart man.
With a net worth thought to be in the region of $21.3 billion (£14.4 billion), his conglomerate Icahn Enterprises invests in... well pretty much everything. Icahn has taken a controlling position in corporations including Texaco, Time Warner, Netflix and Western Union.
In short, Carl Icahn knows what to do with his cash. Which is why it's very interesting that he's just sold his massive stake in Apple.
It's thought that Icahn will have made around $2bn (£1.37bn) from selling over 50 million shares in Apple - but he wasn't looking to sell to make some cash (he's got quite a bit). He was concerned by the tech firm's dwindling prospects in China.
Icahn told reporters that China's economic slowdown and concerns over the government's ability to interfer with the activities of companies "hastened" his exit from Apple shares. "China obviously could be a shadow for it," he told CNBC.
In addition to stiff competition from China's Huawei smartphone group and Samsung's dominant presence, China recently passed a law that required all digital content provided in the country to be stored on serves based in the nation - having drastic implications for Apple's iBooks and iTunes movies services. If Apple can't be a major player in China, that's not great news for its investors.
Icahn apparently called Apple CEO Tim Cook to inform him of the reasons for the sale.
"I called him this morning to tell him that, and he was a little sorry, obviously. But I told him it's a great company," said Mr Icahn.
No, it's not the beginning of the end of Apple - but it adds further pressure on the tech giant to come up with a new piece of gadget magic in the coming months.
iPhone Air? The Apple Car? Apple VR? They need something...
[Via: BBC]
(Images: Rex)
