Posted on 07/20/2004 4:29:41 PM PDT by mikegi
LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- Microsoft on Tuesday revealed what it will do with its massive stockpile of cash, outlining plans to issue a special dividend worth $32 billion and a stock buyback of up to $30 billion over the next four years.
In an announcement that many on Wall Street awaited for several months, Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile) said it would pay the one-time dividend of $3 per share and move to a quarterly dividend of 8 cents per share. In annual terms, the new policy essentially doubles the company's current shareholder payout of 16 cents a share to around $3.5 billion in total.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs.marketwatch.com ...
You have to watch those little guys. They are like bugs. I went to bed one night, leaving the computer on, and when I came back in the morning their little city had outgrown the monitor and spilled out into my den. I probably stepped on, and killed, thousands of them trying to get to the power switch to shut them off.
I hear that in the next rev, there's going to be a new kind of disaster called "The Giant Foot."
Bill had better save some $s to settle with the burst.com shareholders.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/973466/posts
The one time dividend Microsoft will be making will be a taxable dividend. It will be taxed as ordinary income, and it will have no effect on the shareholders' adjusted bases in their shares.
It is possible for a corporation to distribute cash to its shareholders in the form of a non-taxable return of capital. In such case the receipt of cash is not taxed, but the shareholders must reduce their bases in their shares by the amount of non-taxable cash received.
We'll probably be sorry we talked about this. Somebody in Congress might see it. As soon as they figure out that the IRS can get you coming or going, but not both, they'll probably change the law so they do get you coming and going.
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