The Seattle Times: Microsoft: It's time for the big Microsoft payout

The Seattle Times: Microsoft: It's time for the big Microsoft payout "During the coming season to give thanks, Microsoft is giving investors the biggest thank-you in the history of corporate America — up to $76 billion to sweeten the value of its stock.
If shareholders approve the plan at their annual meeting Tuesday in Bellevue, the gratitude will commence with a $3 per share special dividend in December that will cost the company $32 billion. The payout — equal to about 10 percent of the stock's Friday closing price — pales next to the stock's spectacular growth in the 1990s. But it finally gives shareholders some of the cash Microsoft accumulated while turning hefty profits year after year, even as the shares have stumbled since the early 2000 technology downturn."