Apple's shares rocketed by $17billion in less than two hours after a legendary U.S. investor tweeted he had bought a large stake in the company.



Carl Icahn told his 40,000 followers he was backing the business and said its price was 'undervalued', kick-starting a chain reaction that sent the markets wild.

At around 1pm yesterday Apple shares were valued at around $472billion, but by 4pm they hit $489billion, a rise of 4.75 per cent.

He sent the message at 2.21pm, causing a rise of $171million every minute until the market closed.

The activist investor also said her had a 'nice conversation' with CEO Tim Cook about a larger stock buyback, sending the company's shares to a near seven-month high.

He had told Cook that he should return a large amount of the company's cash reserves to shareholders.

Icahn did not say how many shares he has amassed. Rules require investors to disclose stakes of five per cent or larger within 10 days of hitting that threshold.

'Had a nice conversation with Tim Cook today. Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now,' Icahn tweeted. 'We plan to speak again shortly.'

'We currently have a large position in Apple. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued.'

The billionaire with a reputation for pushing aggressive corporate change said on Twitter he planned to talk more with Cook, who has presided over a sharp fall in the share price over the past year.



Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2392624/Apple-shares-rise-17bn-3-HOURS-billionaire-Carl-Icahn-tweets-support.html#ixzz2bxSULn2N