By msnbc.com staff
Apple, sitting on a cash hoard of nearly $100 billion, said Monday it will begin paying a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share this year and spend another $10 billion on a stock repurchase program.
Wall Street investors and analysts had increasingly bet that Apple would return cash to its shareholders, especially after Chief Executive Tim Cook's commented that there were "active discussions" at top levels about how to handle the growing cash pile.
Subject to "declaration" by its board of directors, Apple will begin paying a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share in its fiscal fourth quarter, which begins July 1.
The board also has authorized a $10 billion share repurchase program beginning in fiscal 2013, which begins Sept. 30.
The repurchase program is expected to be executed over three years, with the primary objective of neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs.
?This is even better than expected,? said Stephanie Link, head of research at investment news website TheStreet.com. While the dividend news was expected, the share buyback program was more, she said. Stock buybacks tend to help buoy share prices.
The fact that Apple, which used to hold its product development plans close to its chest under former CEO Steve Jobs, is getting more transparent about its activities, is also good news, she told CNBC.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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