Alphabet authorizes $70 billion buyback

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, said on Tuesday that its board of directors has authorized a $70 billion share buyback.

If Google ends up spending the entire amount on buybacks, that would be a continuation of last year’s pace. Google announced $70 billion worth of share buybacks in April 2022.

Since then, Google has had to cut costs and lay off employees, citing a “different economic reality” and overstaffing.

Alphabet said it will consider the share price as well as market conditions when deciding whether to buy back its shares of both Class A and Class C shares.

Class A shares are originally issued Google shares that conveyed voting rights and Class C shares are a newer class with no voting rights.

Alphabet stock rose more than 3% in extended trading after the company reported revenue that beat Wall Street expectations.

In the year 2022, Alphabet It bought back more of its shares From any company other than Apple.

Stock buybacks have become a hot topic in Washington, DC. Investors like Warren Buffett are fond of stock buybacks because they make existing shares more valuable by reducing the number of shares outstanding. Buffett called critics of the buyback economic “My mom. ”

But some politicians, including President Joe Biden, have targeted the stock buyback, saying it is a bad use of company profits over alternatives such as a wage increase, and that the practice effectively manipulates share prices. A 1% tax on subsidized buybacks was passed by the Biden administration last year.