Carl Icahn press Apple over share buybacks Mr Icahn took to Twitter to disclose that he had used a dinner meeting to press the tech giant's chief executive Tim Cook to carry out further share buybacks. He said he had "pushed hard" for more share purchases by the iPhone and iPad maker. Buybacks reward investors by lifting earnings per share and Apple shares rose 2.4pc on the news the influential investor was pressing the company over its share purchases. "Had a cordial dinner with Tim last night," Mr Icahn said on Twitter. We pushed hard for a $150bn buyback. We decided to continue dialogue in about three weeks. Mr Icahn later told CNBC that he had invested $2bn in Apple. He added that the tech group's finance chief had also attended the meal with Mr Cook. The billionaire investor casually took to the microblogging website Twitter in August to disclose that he had taken a "large position" in Apple shares and that he thought the company was "extremely undervalued." Mr Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as chief executive of the California-based company in August 2011. Following pressure from investors - including hedge fund manager David Einhorn - Apple announced in April that it would return $100bn to shareholders by 2015, through dividends and buybacks. Mr Icahn's huge investment in Apple intensified rumours in August that the company was about to reveal some new developments. It subsequently unveiled its new iPhone 5s and 5c devices, selling nine million of the smartphones in the first weekend alone.