Apple CEO Tim Cook slammed by calling lawsuit a “silly sideshow”

Einhorn made headlines last week by suing Apple and lambasting the company for hoarding billions in cash. Einhorn’s hedge fund, Greenlight Capital, wants Apple to give some of its $137 billion cash hoard back to shareholders in the form of preferred stock.

At a Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) conference in San Francisco moderated by Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Cook shot back about the Einhorn lawsuit,

“Frankly, I find it bizarre that we would find ourselves being sued for doing something that’s good for shareholders,” Cook said, calling the lawsuit a waste of time and money.

Cook also cited one of Einhorn’s lines in the complaint: “Apple doesn’t have a ‘Depression-era mentality,'” Cook said. “Apple makes bold and ambitious bets on products, and we’re conservative financially.”

Though Cook said Apple isn’t spending a lot of time thinking about the suit, the company is reviewing Einhorn’s proposal. Apple will the let shareholders vote at the company’s annual meeting this month whether to block the possibility of ever issuing preferred shares. Greenlight promptly filed a lawsuit in federal court.

coutesy: http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/12/technology/apple-cook-einhorn/index.html