Dec. 4, 2013 7:38 p.m. ET
Carl Icahn is softening his approach to getting at Apple Inc. AAPL -0.23% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $565.00 -1.32 -0.23% Dec. 4, 2013 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 13.25M AFTER HOURS $564.41 -0.59 -0.10% Dec. 4, 2013 7:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 238,807 P/E Ratio 14.16 Market Cap $509.54 Billion Dividend Yield 2.16% Rev. per Employee $2,127,850 12/04/13 Apple, China Mobile Sign Deal ... 12/04/13 China Mobile and Apple Sign iP... 12/04/13 Apple, China Mobile Sign Deal ... More quote details and news » 's bulging cash pile, now seeking a shareholder vote for a more-modest share buyback than what he proposed earlier this year.
The activist billionaire had originally urged the technology company to repurchase $150 billion of its stock immediately. He called a previously announced buyback by Apple, which the company said was the biggest buyback authorization in history, too small and too slow.
Now, he is asking for $50 billion in buybacks on top of Apple's previous program, according to people familiar with his latest overture to Apple. The proposal would call for the buybacks to be done by the end of September, these people said.
Apple in April said it planned to repurchase $60 billion in shares and return a total of $100 billion, including in dividends, through 2015.
Mr. Icahn's decision to make the smaller demand could draw support from other Apple shareholders. Some shareholders and analysts have previously said Apple should return more cash but have questioned whether $150 billion was too steep of an amount.
His latest request could also help Mr. Icahn reach a middle ground with management. Apple CEO Tim Cook has had dinner with Mr. Icahn, and both sides have expressed a willingness to talk and avoid any protracted battles.
An Apple spokesman Wednesday pointed to the company's earlier buyback and dividend pledge, and said it was continuing to review its plans.
"As part of our regular review process, we are once again actively seeking our shareholders' input on our program, and as we said in October, the management team and our board are engaged in an ongoing discussion about it which is thoughtful and deliberate," the spokesman added. "We will announce any changes to our current program in the first part of calendar 2014."
Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said a buyback of $30 billion to $50 billion would be viewed positively by investors and could be funded with low-cost debt, still leaving Apple with plenty of cash.
In its most recent quarter, ended in September, Apple earned $7.5 billion in net income and reported a cash position of about $147 billion, steady with the previous quarter thanks to buybacks and dividends. The company said it had already returned $36 billion to shareholders in dividends and buybacks in the previous five quarters.
Mr. Icahn, who has said he owns about 0.5% of the technology giant, has previously suggested the company commit to a large debt raise amid the current low-interest-rate environment and use those funds for the share repurchase. But since he has emerged, the shares have risen.
Mr. Icahn's original thesis called for a buyback at $525 a share, but Apple shares Wednesday closed at $565 apiece, down 0.23%. A company typically seeks to repurchase shares when the stock is viewed as undervalued; a rising share price could mean the company could better spend its cash in other ways.
Mr. Icahn, in a tweet Wednesday afternoon, said he had given Apple notice that he would be seeking to have the suggested buyback put to a nonbinding shareholder vote. Shareholders are allowed to put forth initiatives to be voted on at the annual meeting, and some groups regularly propose votes on corporate governance issues or other matters.
The votes are nonbinding, but can create headaches for the board of directors if a majority of shareholders support an issue and the company doesn't follow the recommendation.
Influential proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., for instance, as a policy recommends withholding shareholder votes for directors who choose not to act on proposals supported by a majority of shareholders the year before.
Mr. Icahn missed a Sept. 9 deadline to have his proposal included in the ballot Apple mails to shareholders for its 2014 annual meeting. He can mail his own ballot and have it voted on at the meeting but that would be at his own expense unless he reached some agreement with Apple on the issue. Proxy solicitations can cost millions of dollars.
—Liz Hoffman contributed to this article.
Write to David Benoit at david.benoit@wsj.com
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