Microsoft unveils $60 billion buyback, 10% dividend hike.

The software company said Nov. 21 shareholders will receive a quarterly dividend of 83 cents per share, compared with the current 75 cents. The share buyback agreement, which has no expiration date, replaces a $60 billion buyback program announced in 2021.

Microsoft, the second most valuable company in the world, has benefited in recent years from the exuberance of the market for artificial intelligence. The software maker infused its product line with AI technology from partner OpenAI and touted the tools’ ability to augment its business applications such as Teams, Word and Outlook. Microsoft launched a new range of AI tools earlier Monday.

Shares rose less than 1 percent in extended trading after the buyback was announced, after ending Monday at $431.34 in regular trading. The stock is up 31% over the past year.

Microsoft had $75.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Free cash flow in the fiscal fourth quarter was $23.3 billion, the Redmond, Wash.-based company said in July, “up 18 percent year over year, reflecting higher capital expenditures to support our cloud and AI offerings”.

(Updates with extended trading in the fourth paragraph.)