Microsoft Pays Shareholders

Microsoft announced that it was raising its dividend by 8 percent and would buy back an additional $40 billion in shares after the company concludes its current $7.1 billion buyback, which is left from the company's previous $40 billion buyback. The buyback amounts to about 9 percent of outstanding shares, although because of the company's ESOP, the number of outstanding shares will be reduced by less than that amount. The dividend increase means that Microsoft is allocating nearly $1 billion more toward dividends this year than last. Total dividends paid by Microsoft this year should top $12 billion.