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Coffee with Apple chief: $610,000

A bidder has paid more than $A$600,000 at a charity auction for a coffee date with Apple's CEO. Source: AAP

AN anonymous bidder paid $US610,000 ($A619,509.47) in a charity auction for coffee date with Apple chief Tim Cook, the organisers said Wednesday.

The Tim Cook auction tied the record for highest winning bid at charity auction site Charitybuzz, according to a statement from the group and its partner, The Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice & Human Rights.

The bid tied a record set by a 2013 Lamborghini Aventador Roadster auctioned in March 2013 for $610,000, the statement said.

"We're truly amazed by the results of Tim Cook's remarkable donation," said Coppy Holzman, Charitybuzz chief executive and founder.

"Sincere thanks goes out to Charitybuzz's community of socially conscious bidders here in the US and overseas... we are thrilled to have amassed more than $1 million this spring for the RFK Centre's powerful work."

The coffee chat with Cook was limited to two guests, who would be subject to security screening and be responsible for their own travel and accommodations.

It was the first time that Cook made his time available as part of the annual fundraising event.

The centre is also raising money with other celebrity-laden offers, such as a lunch with famed filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola in California wine country, and time with actors Robert DeNiro, Alec Baldwin or William Shatner.

It plans to auction a chance to tour Space-X rocket, a day at training camp with NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and lunch with Robin Williams on the set of his next film.

View the original article here

Apple boss cooks salary package

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View the original article here

Apple boss cooks salary package

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Apple raises $US16.47bn in bond sale

Apple has named its best iPhone and iPad apps of 2012. Picture: Ken Cheung/AP Source: AP

TECHNOLOGY giant Apple has confirmed it sold $US17 billion ($16.47 billion) in bonds in the biggest corporate debt issue ever.

The bond sale, described in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, broke the record of $US16.5 billion from Roche Holding in 2009, according to the research firm Dealogic.

The debt-free Apple offered six tranches of debt, four at fixed rates and two at floating rates with the maturity between three and 30 years.

For the three-year bonds, Apple will pay a rate of 0.45 per cent, which according to Dealogic is the lowest coupon rate on record, tied with Texas Instruments, Unilever Capital and Walt Disney for comparable notes.

The bond maturities go up to 30 years, with a rate of 3.85 per cent, according to the SEC documents.

The company chose to issue debt to finance part of the $US100 billion in share buybacks and dividends it pledged to undertake through the end of 2015.

Apple had a cash pile of $US145 billion at the end of March.

But a significant part of the money is in foreign accounts and the company decided it was better to borrow than bring the money back into the US because of tax issues.

View the original article here

Apple boss cooks salary package

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