In response to Danielle
What do you think of brands advertising on campus, through student ambassadors or sponsored activities? Should colleges allow this sort of thing, or should campuses be kept as ad-free as possible?


Currently the strongest advertising we have on campus is Pepsi.  Their name is plastered all over the place, in the DC, and in the student center.  I feel it is fine.  We are exposed to advertising where ever we go.  By the time a person reaches college they should be able to make educated decisions for themselves and not just take advertisements for granted.  
This summer I was looking for an internship.  I actually walked around the science center and read off each on of the signs that said who the room was sponsored by.  I then wrote down those names, as they were all local companies and looked them up.  Any that interested me, I sent an email to them with my resume.  I ended up getting a very exciting internship this summer due to this method.  I am extremely happy the science center had these signs posted.  
It is one of the first times I have really benefited by advertising, and the company that I was hired with also benefited as they were able to fill a void in their corporation.  
Do the advertisements on campus bother you?  Do you think we should add more to get more funding for the school?

Apple to start quarterly dividend, buybacks

Apple to start quarterly dividend, buybacks

For the past decade, Apple has been one of the top producing stocks.  They aren’t the most innovative company, they aren’t using the most cutting edge technology.  Rather they are taking technology, improving it, and bundling it in a very user friendly package.  This method has made people of all technological abilities grow to appreciate Apple.  They have done such a nice job with it, that they have created almost a cult.  This cult they have created does much of the marketing for the company for free just by word of mouth.  Whenever a new product or version comes out, these people are the first to buy it, before considering whether or not they actually need it.  As a result of this, Apple’s stock has constantly improved.  They follow the trend, that most tech stocks don’t pay a dividend.  This is because they claim they want to invest their funds back into research and development. 

They now have almost 100 Billion in cash and investors want them to do something with that money. Apple will use a small portion of their huge amount of cash in order to buy back some employee stock, to make the rest of the stock more valuable.  They are also going to create a quarterly dividend in which they will pay back to all of their common stock holders. 

Some investors are wondering if this will inhibit their ability to stay as innovative as they have been. 

Should Apple pay a dividend?  What should it be?  Should it have the expectation to increase every year as it does with numerous other companies?  If they have a bad year should they still have to pay a dividend?