NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.75% said on Monday that it will initiate a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. The firm also said it will set a $10 billion share buyback that will begin on September 30. "We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You'll see more of all of these in the future," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program."