The post Is an Apple stock split on the horizon? appeared first on MacDailyNews. Apple’s stock has split five times since the company went public. The stock split on a 4-for-1 basis on August 28, 2020, a 7-for-1 basis on June 9, 2014, and split on a 2-for-1 basis on February 28, 2005, June 21, 2000, and June 16, 1987.

In each of the five times that Apple has split its stock, it was undergoing strong growth in sales and profitability, save for the split in the year 2000, when sales dipped between the dot-com bust and the release of the iPod in October 2001.

It has been nearly four years since Apple’s last stock split. In the last two splits, the company appears to have intended to bring the share price down to about $100. With a current price in the upper $180s, and setting new all-time highs, Apple’s Board of Directors may be considering a stock split.

Companies issue stock splits for a variety of reasons, but one motivation is to make their shares more accessible to a wider range of investors. Stock splits increase the number of shares outstanding and reduce the price per share, which makes the stock more affordable for smaller investors.

While fractional share purchases are widely available today, they were not always an option. In the past, investors had to buy whole shares, which meant that high-priced stocks were out of reach for many people. Stock splits were a way for companies to lower the price per share and make their stock more accessible to a broader range of investors.

In addition to making their shares more affordable, companies may also issue stock splits to increase liquidity in their stock. By increasing the number of shares outstanding, the trading volume in the stock can increase, which can make it easier for investors to buy and sell shares. Trading volume is not an issue for Apple, the world’s most valuable company.

Stock splits can also be a signal to the market that a company is doing well. When a company announces a stock split, it can be interpreted as a positive sign that the company’s management is confident about the future prospects of the business.

Finally and importantly, Apple is a major component of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks for U.S. equities. Because these indexes are market-cap weighted, Apple’s large market capitalization gives it a significant weighting in the indexes. This means that even small changes in Apple’s stock price can have a large impact on the indexes. For example, if Apple’s stock price increases by 1%, the S&P 500 could increase by 0.2%. This can distort the performance of the indexes and make them less accurate as a measure of the overall market. As a result, there is pressure on Apple to periodically split its stock, which would reduce its weighting in the indexes and increase the indexes accuracy in reflecting the overall market.

MacDailyNews Note: So, while fractional share purchases are now widely available, companies still issue stock splits to make their shares more accessible to smaller investors, increase liquidity, signal confidence in the future of the business, and, importantly reduce their weighting in widely used indexes like the S&P 500.

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The post Apple TV+ has essential acquired Lionel Messi, the superstar of the world’s default global sport appeared first on MacDailyNews. What’s Apple doing reportedly paying for part of Lionel Messi’s deal to come play for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami in the U.S.? Start with the fact that, with “MLS Season Pass,” Apple TV+ streams all MLS soccer games and follow the money from there.

David Brancaccio and Alex Schroeder for MarketPlace:

With Messi in the MLS, all those games are likely to draw more eyeballs from all around the world. And Apple TV+ would stand to benefit.

“The real story here is that it’s essentially Apple TV that’s acquiring the world’s superstar in our default global sport,” said Andrés Martinez, a professor at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Andrés Martinez: The real story here is that it’s essentially Apple TV that’s acquiring the world’s superstar in our default global sport. Apple signed a 10-year deal with the MLS for global TV rights, and it is going to give revenue-sharing participation to Messi. This is the rise of of media within sports as the driving purpose. There was a study of Nielsen ratings done by Sportico that showed that 94 [out of 100] of the most-watched telecasts in the U.S. were live sporting events. And I think that’s what Apple has seen, that if you want to drive subscriptions, you have to offer compelling live sport.

MacDailyNews Take: It’s precisely these types of ideas that are certifiably genius.

Cook should consider bidding for and winning NFL Sunday Ticket away from DirecTV, buying rights to Premiere League and La Liga games, etc. and making them Apple TV exclusives. Go directly to the sports leagues with boatloads of cash. — MacDailyNews, May 6, 2014

As we wrote in early June of the pending deal:

[This is] multiple times bigger than David Beckham joining LA Galaxy in 2007. (As part of his deal, Beckham received the option to purchase an MLS expansion team for $25 million after he finished his playing career, which he did: Inter Miami.)

Messi to Inter Miami [will] be an immeasurable boon to MLS, Apple TV+, MLS Season Pass, football (soccer) in America, and, of course, Inter Miami (currently dead last in the MLS Eastern Conference; funnily enough, the same spot LA Galaxy currently occupies in the Western Conference. It seems as if all of the stars are somehow aligned).

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The post Apple TV+ has essential acquired Lionel Messi, the superstar of the world’s default global sport appeared first on MacDailyNews.