Like Apple and Nvidia, Microsoft is making too much money from its suite of tech products and software and will give more of it back to shareholders (instead of cutting prices for customers).
Microsoft announced on Monday that its board has approved a new share buyback programme of up to $US60 billion (around $A89 billion) and an increase in its quarterly dividend.
The world’s second-largest company by market valuation stated that its quarterly dividend would rise to 83 US cents per share, up 8 US cents from the previous quarter.
A year ago, the company said it would increase its payout to 75 US cents from 68 cents. At Monday’s closing price of $US431.34, the stock has a dividend yield of—wait for it—0.77%.
At Monday’s close, Microsoft was valued at $US3.21 trillion, just behind Apple, which was valued at $US3.29 trillion after its shares fell on Monday following a broker’s claim of weak demand for the iPhone 16.
Earlier this year, Apple increased its quarterly dividend by 4% (1 cent) to 25 US cents and revealed its largest buyback yet, at $US110 billion. This was up from $US90 billion for the period from 2021 to 2023.
Nvidia, too, announced a $US50 billion buyback programme this year, up from $US25 billion in 2023. It closed with a market value of $US2.86 trillion on Monday.
In total, these three tech giants will have a combined buyback programme of up to $US195 billion, or close to $A290 billion.
