Billionaire investor dumps Apple shares

"We no longer have a position with Apple," he said in a TV interview.

Reports say Mr Icahn made $2bn (£1.37bn) from selling his stake in Apple. At one point last year, he owned 53 million shares, valued at $6.5bn.

Mr Icahn usually pushes for changes at companies he invests in, which earns him the title "activist investor".

He started buying Apple shares in the third quarter of 2013 when they were trading at around $68 per share.

On Thursday shares closed at $94.83, down 3% for the day.

Cook 'sorry'

Mr Icahn said he spoke to Apple's chief executive Tim Cook, to tell him about the share sale.

"I called him this morning to tell him that, and he was a little sorry, obviously. But I told him it's a great company," Mr Icahn said.

The stock sale has not been disclosed in a filing to the stock regulator.

News of the sale emerged in an interview with US financial news network CNBC.

Mr Icahn is the majority shareholder in Icahn Enterprises - a holding company with a range of investments, with interests ranging from mining to automotive to real estate and food packaging.

China worries

Mr Icahn said that China's economic slowdown and worries over government interference hastened his exit from Apple shares.

In March China passed a law that required all content shown in China to be stored on servers based on the Chinese mainland.

As a result Apple's iBooks and iTunes movies service were shut down in the country. Apple said it hoped access to the services would be restored soon.

Earlier this week, Apple reported in a 13% drop in its second quarter revenue as sales of iPhones slipped.

(BBC)