IBM may buy back additional $5B in stock
ARMONK, N.Y. (AP) — IBM says its board had added $5 billion to its stock buyback program, bringing the total buyback authorization to $11.7 billion.
The computer and consulting company last added to it buyback program in April, in the amount of $7 billion. IBM Corp. said Tuesday that it expects to add more funding to the buyback program next April.
The total buyback authorization is equivalent to 5 percent of the Armonk, N.Y., company's outstanding shares.
Buying back shares increases the value of shareholders' existing stakes and can help support a company's per-share earnings.
The computer and consulting company last added to it buyback program in April, in the amount of $7 billion. IBM Corp. said Tuesday that it expects to add more funding to the buyback program next April.
The total buyback authorization is equivalent to 5 percent of the Armonk, N.Y., company's outstanding shares.
Buying back shares increases the value of shareholders' existing stakes and can help support a company's per-share earnings.
Yes, I worked for IBM for 35 years, and lived through  the changes that had to be made.  They  were wrenching.  The person who actually saved IBM, Lou Gerstner, was NOT a long time IBM employee, he was brought in the the "outside."  He foresaw that IBM could not compete in "hardware" and manufacturing with the Asian rim, so he turned IBM into a software/services/consulting company.  He was right, but at the time, he was widely scorned, excoriated, demonized and denigrated for it.  IBM's success since then proved him right.
Aside from Apple, which is off the charts as these things go, IBM is one of the more amazing stories of a company completely re-inventing itself and rocketing back from the brink. HP and Microsoft should take a good look - before it's too late - at IBM's story over the past ten years. For openers, big splash changes merely for the sake of it or strictly for PR value only works for one quarter, and coming up with four per year is beyond the reach of any company.