Microsoft in $40bn share buyback

Microsoft’s board has authorised the buyback of an additional $40bn (€36bn) of stock on top of an existing $40bn repurchase initiative it will finish by year’s end, keeping up a strategy of returning money to shareholders as its cash pile grows.

The Redmond, Washington-based software maker also raised its quarterly dividend by 8.3% to 39c per share, earlier this week.

The company’s stock has jumped 31% in the past year, giving Microsoft a market capitalisation of $442.7bn — the third-largest in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.