Carl Icahn, the famous activist investor, has written an open letter to Apple's Tim Cook encouraging him to increase share buybacks and return cash to shareholders. The full text of the letter is available here. Icahn believes that the market is undervaluing Apple's future growth potential - he seems very excited by the iPhone 6. Given Apple's huge cash pile, it makes sense for it to repurchase shares which are significantly undervalued. An FT Lex video on the Icahn letter is below.
My colleague and former PhD student Gareth Campbell has created a website about the British Railway Mania - click here . This episode has been described by the Economist as probably the greatest bubble in human history. Gareth's website provides background on the Mania and posits some explanations for the 'bubble'. In his explanation of why the bubble happened, Gareth places a lot of emphasis on investor myopia regarding future dividends and uncalled capital. His study of investors during the episode does not support the view that this episode was fuelled by naive and irrational investors.