Putting Microsoft's New $40 Billion Buyback Plan Into Perspective

Microsoft Corporation MSFT shares are up 1.1 percent in early Wednesday afternoon trading after the company announced a massive new $40 billion open-ended buyback plan. The new plan will begin upon completion of the current $40 billion buyback plan by December 31.

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Microsoft certainly seems to be taking an aggressive approach to buying back shares, but how does its buyback strategy compare to other major tech stocks? Here’s a look.

• Oracle Corporation ORCL: In March, Oracle added another $10 billion in buybacks to its current program. Oracle has averaged nearly $10 billion in annual buybacks since 2012.
• Apple Inc. AAPL: Apple first began buying back shares in 2012. However, its $35 billion 2016 plan brings its total five-year authorization up to a staggering $175 billion.
• Yahoo! Inc YHOO: In March 2015, Yahoo approved an additional $2 billion in buybacks through March 2018. At the time, the company had about $726 million remaining on its previous program and had bought back $9.7 billion since 2012.
• Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL: Last October, Alphabet approved a $5.1 billion buyback plan, its first ever.
• International Business Machines Corp. IBM: Since 2000, IBM has spent about $110 billion on share repurchases. Last October, the board approved an additional $4 billion in buybacks on top of the $2.4 billion remaining on the previous plan at the time.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE: In May, the board approved tacking on another $3 billion to the company’s $1.8 billion remaining buyback authorization.

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