Microsoft announces $40 bn share buyback, hikes dividend
19 Sep 2019
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Microsoft Corporation on Wednesday announced a $40 billion share buyback plan. Its board of directors also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.51 per share, reflecting a 5 cent or 11% increase over the previous quarter’s dividend.
The dividend is payable 12 December 2019, to shareholders of record on 21 November. The ex-dividend date will be 20 November 2019.
The $40 billion share buyback programme, announced by the board of directors, will have no expiration date, but may be terminated at any time.
The company bought back shares worth $19.54 billion last year. In the previous fiscal year, the buybacks were worth $10.72 billion - all under CEO Satya Nadella`s tenure.
The Redmond, Washington=-based company announced that the annual shareholders meeting will be held on 4 December 2019.
This year`s annual shareholders meeting will be held virtually and hosted by Nadella, Amy Hood, chief financial officer, Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer and John W Thompson, Microsoft independent board chair.
Driven by growth in its Cloud and Surface laptop segments, Microsoft posted revenue of $33.7 billion and net income of $13.2 billion for its fourth quarter that ended on June 30.
For its entire fiscal year 2019, Microsoft reported revenue of $125.8 billion which increased 14 per cent and $39.2 billion net income - setting a new record fiscal year for the company.
The trillion dollar Microsoft has returned $7.7 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019.
