Carl Icahn buys an additional $500 million shares in Apple

As promised, billionaire investor Carl Icahn sent a seven page letter to Apple shareholders on Thursday, but not before buying an additional $500 million in the company, bringing his total share ownership to $3.6 billion. Icahn’s open letter suggests that shares of Apple are worth $840 each, 52 percent higher than the current trading price. The purpose of the letter,  however, is to push Apple to again repurchase shares, something the firm has been reluctant to do.

Just in case Tim Cook and the Apple board weren’t sure, Carl Icahn made one thing clear Thursday: he is not going away.  A day after revealing on Twitter that he had increased his stake in Apple to more than $3 billion, the billionaire investor tweeted that he picked up another $500 million worth of the iPhone-maker’s stock Thursday, bringing his stake to some $3.6 billion. Icahn also went public with a letter calling on fellow Apple shareholders to support his crusade for a massive stock buyback aimed at correcting what he calls “a dramatic valuation disconnect” between the company’s shares and the broader market.