(Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. unveiled a new $60 billion share buyback program, matching its largest buyback authorization ever, and raised its quarterly dividend by 10%.
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The software company said shareholders will receive a quarterly dividend of 83 cents per share starting Nov. 21, compared with 75 cents currently. The share repurchase agreement, which has no expiration date, replaces a $60 billion share repurchase program announced in 2021.
Microsoft, the world’s second-largest company by market value, has benefited from the boom in artificial intelligence over the past few years. The software company has infused its product line with AI technology from its partner OpenAI and touted the tools’ ability to enhance its business applications, such as Teams, Word and Outlook. Earlier Monday, Microsoft launched a new suite of AI tools.
Shares rose less than 1% in extended trading after the buyback announcement after closing at $431.34 in regular trading Monday. The stock has gained 31% in the past year.
Microsoft had $75.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Redmond, Washington-based company said in July that free cash flow in the fiscal fourth quarter was $23.3 billion, “up 18% year over year reflecting higher capital expenditures to support our cloud and AI offerings.”
(Updates with expanded trading in paragraph 4.)
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