Starbucks dividend to pay 10c a share

Seattle: Starbucks Corp, the world’s largest coffee shop operator, announced a quarterly dividend of 10 cents a share, its first since going public in 1992, to return cash to shareholders.

The board also authorised the repurchase of 15 million shares of common stock, Seattle-based Starbucks said. That is in addition to the 6.3 million shares available for buyback under previous authorisation.

The dividend will be paid on April 23 to shareholders of record on the close of business on April 7.

Starbucks increased 58 cents to $25.99 at 9.14am New York time, before the start of regular Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares had risen 10% this year before yesterday.