NEW YORK (AP) — The Wall Street Journal says Apple Inc. is selling $17 billion in bonds on Tuesday. That would make it the largest corporate bond issue ever.

Apple is selling the bonds in its first debt issue since the 1990s. The company is raising the money to give to shareholders through dividend payments and stock buybacks. Apple has enough cash on hand for the $100 billion cash return program it announced last week, but most of that money sits in overseas accounts, and the company doesn't plan to bring it to the U.S. until the federal corporate tax rate is lowered.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting strong interest in Apple's bonds, which come in three- to thirty-year maturities. The paper said the yields were coming in lower than expected.