Apple will next week issue a second share for every single share currently outstanding, the Mac maker announced today. The two-for-one split will take place on Friday, 18 February after the close of trading on Nasdaq, with the shares re-entering the market on Monday, 28 February.

There are currently some 900m AAPL common shares in circulation, rising to 1.8bn after the split.

Apple shares were priced at $78.36 as we went to press. Earlier this week the stock hit a year-high of $81.99, just shy of the company's all-time high, $83.25, achieved in November 1999.

Apple last split its stock this way in June 2000, when AAPL shares had risen to over $60 =after almost four years below $20). After the 2000 split, the stock slumped to below $20 and then oscillated around the $20 mark before starting, in Q1 2003, the growth trend that has taken the stock to today's levels. The increase comes largely on the back of the company's success with the iPod. In November 2004, the stock hit a four-year high. ®

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