Everybody likes more cash. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced on Tuesday that the company will buy back more of its stock, promising to return a total of $100 billion to shareholders by 2015. That makes it the largest buyback plan in American corporate history. The decision comes on the heels of a dismal company report of an 18 percent decline in the first quarter of 2013—and a total 40 percent decline since September. Shares rose in German markets upon hearing the news, but the U.S. market remained relatively unchanged. Apple’s stock is now cheaper than 94 percent of the companies on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
