tech:

taffy

Apple Buying Back $60 Billion In Stock

apple_store

Apple is increasing its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from $10 billion. This is the largest single share repurchase authorization in history and is expected to be executed by the end of calendar 2015.

Tim Cook (CEO, Apple):  We are very fortunate to be in a position to more than double the size of the capital return program we announced last year.  We believe so strongly that repurchasing our shares represents an attractive use of our capital that we have dedicated the vast majority of the increase in our capital return program to share repurchases.

Apple’s board has authorized a significant increase to the company’s program to return capital to shareholders, says the company. Apple expects to utilize a total of $100 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015. This represents a $55 billion increase, and translates to an average rate of $30 billion per year from the time of the first dividend payment in August 2012 through December 2015.

Apple is also increasing the company’s quarterly dividend by 15 per cent, and has declared a dividend of $3.05 per common share, payable on May 16, 2013 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 13, 2013.

Apple also expects to utilize about $1 billion annually to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.

[Image courtesy: Apple]

You may also be interested in:

 

 

Just in

Apple sued in a landmark iPhone monopoly lawsuit — CNN

The US Justice Department and more than a dozen states filed a blockbuster antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday, accusing the giant company of illegally monopolizing the smartphone market, writes Brian Fung, Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez.

Google is bringing satellite messaging to Android 15 — The Verge

Google’s second developer preview for Android 15 has arrived, bringing long-awaited support for satellite connectivity alongside several improvements to contactless payments, multi-language recognition, volume consistency, and interaction with PDFs via apps, writes Jess Weatherbed. 

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is paid more than the heads of Meta, Pinterest, and Snap — combined — QZ

Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman has been blasted by Redditors and in media reports over his recently-revealed, super-sized pay package of $193 million in 2023, writes Laura Bratton. 

British AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman joins Microsoft — BBC

Microsoft has announced British Artificial Intelligence pioneer Mustafa Suleyman will lead its newly-formed division, Microsoft AI, according to the BBC report. 

UnitedHealth Group has paid more than $2 billion to providers following cyberattack — CNBC

UnitedHealth Group said Monday that it’s paid out more than $2 billion to help health-care providers who have been affected by the cyberattack on subsidiary Change Healthcare, writes Ashley Capoot.