Hedge fund manager David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital has dropped its lawsuit against Apple after winning a battle to stop the iPhone maker holding a shareholder vote on a proposal to abolish its ability to issue preferred shares at its discretion.
The lawsuit’s withdrawal closed the chapter on what was the strongest challenge by an Apple investor in years. Einhorn, leading calls on Wall Street for Apple to share more of its $137 billion (£91bn) in cash, wanted it to issue what he called “iPrefs,” or preferred shares with a perpetual 4 per cent dividend.
The hedge fund manager argued if the proposal had passed, it would have complicated future attempts to issue such securities.