Apple Reports Record Quarterly Earnings; Announces 7-for-1 Stock Split, New Retail Chief

Today marked the delivery of Apple's latest quarterly earnings results, as well as the latest time that the Cupertino company has exceeded Wall Street expectations. Most analyst predictions forecast that the iPhone maker would bring in only $43 billion during Q2 2014, but Apple beat those expectations with earnings of $45.6 billion. That represents $10.6 billion in profits.

As per usual, the iPhone brought in the lion's share of the wealth with the sale of 43.7 million units. That's a substantial increase over the 37.4 million sold during the same quarter last year. The iPad followed the lead with 16.35 million units (down a bit from last year's 19.5 million, and the Mac rounded off the report with 4.1 million units. In contrast most downward-tending desktop trends, the Mac sales number represents a modest increase over last year's 4 million during the same period.

Source: MacRumors

Apple also took the opportunity to announce that it will split its stock 7-for-1 beginning June 9 in order to allow newer investors to get in on some of those earnings. For existing shareholders, that means you'll receive six additional shares as of June, which will be worth 1/17 of the share's normal price.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also announced that Angela Ahrendts, the former CEO of British high-end fashion brand Burberry, will be taking over as Apple's retail chief. Ahrendts' arrival marks the first time that the position has been filled since John Browett, Apple's previous retail chief, left the company in 2012.

The stock market responded to the news favorably, resulting in an after-hours stock surge of 7.89 percent. You can watch the conference call in its entirety here.

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