Business & Tech
Qualcomm Announces $5 Billion Stock Buyback Plan
The stock buyback program follows a 40% dividend increase in March.
Mobile technology powerhouse Qualcomm Inc. announced Wednesday that it would spend up to $5 billion to repurchase its shares.
A previous repurchasing program announced in March returned 40.1 million shares of common stock, worth $2.7 billion, to the San Diego company's portfolio.
Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm's chairman and CEO, said the latest buyback "reflects our commitment to returning capital to stockholders while continuing to make substantial investments in new technologies and future growth opportunities.''
The company announced in March a 40 percent dividend increase to shareholders.
A stock repurchase program is usually an indication that management thinks shares are undervalued. Because a share repurchase reduces the number of shares outstanding, it increases earnings per share and tends to raise the market value of the remaining shares.
Qualcomm's shares rose 0.9% to $68.72 in after-hours trading Wednesday, according to the online site MarketWatch.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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