Microsoft Bumps Up Share Buyback Plan

Microsoft, the world’s leading software producer, on Friday bumped up its existing share buyback plan by roughly $16.2 billion, boosting the value of its authorized buyback through June 30, 2011 to approximately $36.2 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Redmond, Wash.-based firm made its buyback plans public after posting its fiscal fourth quarter financials in late July, and it said at that time the plan included a tender offer to buy back $20 billion worth of stock before Aug. 17 as well as authorization to continue buybacks to the tune $20 billion until 2011, according to the Journal.

The software behemoth also said Friday that early results of a tender offer—in the form of a Dutch auction that ended Thursday—suggest it will be able to buy back roughly 155 million of the company’s common shares for a price of $24.75 apiece, with a total value of $3.8 billion, the Journal reports.

The shares to be bought back make up about 1.5 percent of outstanding Microsoft shares, according to the Journal.

This article is posted on our Microsoft Informer page. For more news on the Redmond, Wash.-based powerhouse, keep checking in.

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