Apple's Tim Cook: Shareholder lawsuit a 'silly sideshow'

Apple boss Tim Cook has called a lawsuit brought by activist shareholder David Einhorn a "silly sideshow".

But he said the board is discussing Mr Einhorn's proposal to help shareholders get a better return on their investment despite so much of the computing giant's money sitting idle in cash.

Apple already announced in March a plan to return to shareholders $45bn of the $98bn in cash reserves it then held.

Mr Einhorn unveiled last week a lawsuit aimed at returning even more value.

Despite having already repaid $10bn via dividends and share buybacks, Apple's enormous profits have swelled its cash balances even further, to $137bn.

The Apple chief executive nonetheless said his company's board was in "very active discussions" over Mr Einhorn's proposal, although he still threw his weight behind the shareholder vote to abolish unlimited preference share issuance.

Mr Einhorn responded by saying Apple "could simply end the matter by complying with existing law" and letting shareholders have a separate vote on the question of preference shares.

Critics of Apple say that the company has run out of investment opportunities, while the smartphone and tablet market it dominates has peaked, and is seeing tougher competition from the likes of Korea's Samsung and China's Huawei.

However, other analysts point to new potential directions for the company, including smart cars that are connected to the web, and the "iWatch" - a wrist-held tablet computer made of new malleable materials.