NEW YORK: Microsoft says its board has approved a new share buy back programme of up to US$60bil.

The tech giant declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.83 per share, reflecting a 10% increase over the previous quarter.

Microsoft said it would hold its annual shareholders meeting on Dec 10.

In July, the company said it would spend more this financial year on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. It reported a 77.6% rise in capital spending in the quarter ended June 30, largely due to AI-related expenses.

The company reported a slowdown in growth at its Azure cloud business in the reported quarter but said growth would accelerate in the second half of the financial year 2025.

Big tech companies, including Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google, are facing investor pressure to show a pay off for the billions of dollars they have been investing in AI infrastructure.

Microsoft is one of the few big companies that break out AI contributions in their quarterly earnings, as most firms are yet to see a big boost from AI investments.

 - Reuters