Apple held a press conference this morning to announce what it intends to do with some of its $98 billion in cash, and the plan starts with a quarterly dividend for shareholders and a $10 billion share repurchase program.
The quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share kicks off in Q4 2012, which begins in July, and Apple will begin buying back its shares in September. The combination of the two measures is expected to use up $45 billion of Apple's cash reserve over the next three years.
According to a press release, the stock repurchase program is meant to help prevent dilution from any future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs Apple may want to launch.
"We are extremely confident in our future and see tremendous opportunities ahead," said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer.
With the new iPad having what Oppenheimer called "a record weekend" for the company, it sounds like he's got good reason to be confident.
Now, how much cash does Apple have to amass before they decide to build us a hoverboard?
