Microsoft announced that the company’s board of directors has approved a new share buyback program worth up to $60 billion.
The mentioned technology giant announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per equity. The corresponding indicator is 10% higher than the same figure recorded in the last quarter.
Microsoft also announced its intention to hold a shareholders’ meeting on December 10.
In July, the technology giant stated its intention to allocate more funding for artificial intelligence infrastructure in the current fiscal year. Microsoft also reported that in the quarter ended June 30, its capital spending increased by 77.6%. The technology giant clarified that most of the upward dynamic of the mentioned indicator is related to expenses on machine intelligence.
Also this year, a slowdown in the growth of Microsoft’s cloud business was recorded. The corresponding business is named Azure. The technology giant expects the mentioned growth to accelerate in the second half of fiscal year 2025.
It is worth noting that currently, many companies belonging to the Big Tech category are facing pressure from investors who demand the financial result of multibillion-dollar investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. In this case, it’s important that AI is largely what corresponds to such a concept as a long-term project. In the relevant context, it is worth noting that it is not yet known which form of artificial intelligence will be the peak stage of its evolution. At the same time, investors need a clear image of the future with concrete results realized in the financial sector of material reality.
Last month, Microsoft restructured how it reports results for its business units. As part of the relevant solution, the technology giant moved some search and news advertising revenue under the Azure cloud-computing unit.
It is worth noting that this year other companies belonging to the BigTech category have also announced share buyback programs. For example, in May, Apple made a corresponding statement. The iPhone developer announced a $110 billion share buyback program. The company made the appropriate decision against the background of optimistic earnings data.
Amid the news about the buyback of shares, Microsoft’s securities value on the aftermarket trade showed moderate growth. Since the beginning of the current year, the technology giant’s stocks have risen in price by about 15%.
As we have reported earlier, Microsoft and BlackRock to Launch Fund for AI Infrastructure.
