490 million US dollars: Investors demand compensation from Apple

In order to keep investors in a good mood, some CEOs rely on positive forecasts for the future. This could now cost Tim Cook dearly as head of Apple. After all, he promised future successes on the Chinese market, only to revise this forecast later. Now there are not only angry investors, but also the threat of a claim for damages.

Apple threatened with payment of 490 million US dollars

Investors weigh the words of CEOs of their investment targets on the gold scale. For this reason, the choice of words should always be carefully considered. This is especially true when you are the boss of one of the biggest tech companies on the planet. Tim Cook is a current negative example. During a conference call in 2018, the Apple CEO evaluated quarterly figures and looked to the future with confidence. The focus was on the Chinese business. However, he withdrew his optimistic sales forecast after just two months and revised it downwards.

Naturally, some investors who invested on the basis of the positive outlook were annoyed. After all, the unexpectedly weak sales caused the share price to tumble on the stock market. Now Apple has received a class action lawsuit from several affected parties. Together, they are claiming damages amounting to an impressive 490 million US dollars. This can be seen from the court documents published at the weekend. While the disgruntled investors want to enforce their rights, the tech group is not aware of any guilt. In particular, it does not want to be accused of misleading investors.

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Group has no desire for litigation

The plaintiff investors can be cautiously optimistic that the money will actually flow. After all, there already seems to be a suitable settlement between the two parties. The written version only needs to be signed by the judge. Once this is done, it will be effective and the payment of the equivalent of almost 450 million euros will be finalized. Given the current high value of its shares, Apple is unlikely to have any interest in negative headlines associated with the alleged misleading of investors. For this reason, the payment of damages is likely to be the much smarter option.