Icahn says firm has $2 billion invested in Apple shares: CNBC

Activist billionaire investor Carl Icahn said Tuesday on CNBC that his firm has $2 billion invested in shares of technology giant Apple Inc. .

Shares of Apple rose over 2 percent on Tuesday on news that Icahn had dinner with Apple chief executive Tim Cook on Monday and "pushed hard" for a buyback. "Had a cordial dinner with Tim last night. We pushed hard for a 150 billion buyback. We decided to continue dialogue in about three weeks," Icahn tweeted on Tuesday.

Icahn meets Cook (Image credit: Reuters)

In August, Icahn told Reuters that "Apple has the ability to do a $150 billion buyback now by borrowing funds at 3 percent. He also said at the time, "If Apple does this now and earnings increase at only 10 percent, the stock - even keeping the same multiple currently - should trade at $700 a share."

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Tuesday, shares of Apple rose 1.85 percent to trade over $485 a share. A source familiar with the matter, who declined to be named because Icahn hasn't disclosed his holdings in Apple, said the investor's stake was worth around $1 billion, a fraction of the company's market value of more than $400 billion.

Cook did not mention the dinner in any tweets on Tuesday.Icahn said on CNBC that Apple's chief financial officer was also in attendance at the dinner with Cook on Monday.

Reuters