Today I awoke to news anchor Ashleigh Banfield and Team on CNN discussing what Apple was to announce they planned to do with their extraordinary pile of cash, some $96B. I had a conversation with my wife, who is a recent Apple convert of the Apple iPad, iPhone and soon to buy the new MacBook Pro when it is released, about Apple and their amazing success. Many people forget that Apple was literally 90 days from bankruptcy before they brought back Steve Jobs and he literally saved the company by shear Vision and Leadership. A lesson for those choosing CEO’s in the future and one HP should have considered before allowing Meg Whitman and Ray Lane to lead a Coup’ to take over HP.
Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook announced what everyone had predicted would be the primary announcement, dividends and a three year, $10B, stock buyback plan and then it hit me.
- Where is my Dividend?
During all the conversation by the News Anchors on TV, all the articles in Newspapers and online blogs and even in a lengthy excited conversation with my wife, I realized no one, not even myself had mentioned, why don’t they pay the poor laborers more? In all the conversations it was expected that those wealthy enough to own Apple stock would receive dividends and for their stock price to go up from stock buybacks, but no one even considered possibly rewarding those who it would impact the most and who had the most impact on the quality of Apple products? I mean really, if the employees manufacturing the Apple products in China did not put the tremendous effort to manufacture quality products then we would not be having this conversation today. I don’t care how innovative Apple products are if they were not also quality manufactured and reliable no one buy them and they would go the way of Ford and Gateway where ‘Job was not #1’. We wouldn’t have the tremendous advancement in culture, technology and quality of life because no application developers would develop for products that were unreliable and not durable. On the other hand the employees manufacturing Apple products in China did focus and produce quality products and Apple did succeed in direct correlation to the level of quality the manufacturing employees in China put into each individual task in putting together iPads, iPhones, and other innovative Apple products that have changed the way we live, learn, and enjoy life.
So why reward those workers in China for the direct impact they had in making Apple the leader in technology products today? Can you imagine how much impact $10B over three years would have on workers in China manufacturing Apple products? Can you imagine what an extra $1 an hour would do for a worker in China manufacturing Apple products? Can you imagine what a portion of that $2.65 dividend for each of approximately the 1 billion Apple shares outstanding or in other words $2.65B PER QUARTER could do to improving living conditions for those living 8 to a room working 12 – 16 hours a day, six days a week and eating in a cafeteria? I mean seriously, did no one in Apple consider this? Did no one in the media consider this either? Are we just a society that thinks of how to get richer ourselves and not about improving the quality of life of the rest of the world struggling to make the products that tremendously improve our quality of life? Are we really that self-centered, selfish and thoughtless?
Doesn’t this topic deserve some consideration because after all if you improve the quality of life in China and other places in the world that manufacture Apple products they might also one day be able to afford to purchase Apple products and become Apple customers and then sell the products to vastly more people around the world, thereby increasing creativity, innovation, invention and fueling another revolution in technology improving quality of life.
Isn’t it better to ‘ThinkWinWin’ instead of ThinkiWin all the time?