24/7 Wall St.

From an interview Friday on CNBC:

Steve Jobs created a loyalty with users that is unparalleled in the world, certainly for any consumer product. What Tim Cook has done, he’s built a loyalty with shareholders.

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He’s done it by taking advantage of the high prices Apple can charge for its products—which it’s earned because of its brand recognition and product reputation—and he’s been able to build a business model that’s very attractive to hold onto shareholders.

He’s buying back stocks—about $100 billion of stock this year. He has a huge reservoir of additional capital beyond that. He gives out dividends.

And so he doesn’t have to be on the bleeding edge of innovation. Remember, he’s valued as a value stock, not as a growth stock, so he’s really positioned the company well, saying that he doesn’t have to make a bet on “does Apple go out and buy Tesla?” or things like that. He can just track and scale, and watch what things are going to be important and adapt to them.

Cue the video:

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Former Apple CEO on Apple’s rise to $1 trillion from CNBC.

My take: When Apple hits a big milestone, a sit-down with the ex-CEO is a no brainer. This was a smart one. BTW, Scully doesn’t expect the next big “Moore’s-law cycle events” for another 5 to 7 years.