Hedge fund manager David Einhorn has built a reputation on his ability to crater a company’s stock.

In a cavernous convention centre in front of 12,000 people lit by lasers and with smoke machines billowing, a man in his mid-40s took to the stage playing a distorted guitar solo — it was EMC’s chief marketing officer Jeremy Burton.

In today’s “rigged” US stock market, large investors such as Greenlight Capital are like “dumb tourists” led to a casino where the card games are fixed, according to Michael Lewis, whose book Flash Boys has touched off a national debate about high-frequency trading.

Apple reported its first profit decline since 2003 and forecast revenue that missed analysts’ estimates amid slowing iPhone sales growth and accelerating competition from Samsung.

Apple, the world’s most valuable technology company, is being urged by David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital to return more of its $137.1bn (€101.5bn) in cash to shareholders.