Alphabet will pay dividends for the first time in its history

Google's parent company Alphabet will pay its shareholders a dividend of $0.20 per share for the first time in its history. This was announced during the company's quarterly reporting conference. The company said it planned to spend $70 billion to buy back shares. Against the background of the news, the share price increased by 11.4%.

As of the end of March this year, Google's parent corporation had $108 billion in liquid free funds, and the $70 billion share buyback should not significantly affect the Internet giant's financial position.

The company announced the buyback of shares last year, and it is planned to pay only dividends, which will be received by all people who have Google shares as of June 10. For example, Google co-founder Sergey Brin will receive a dividend of $146 million, and his partner Larry Page will receive $78 million.

In the post-coronavirus period, investors welcomed the decision by tech companies to reduce their workforces, which for many market participants was more than necessary. The investor community now also welcomes share buybacks and dividend payments. In February, the company Meta Platforms also announced the payment of the first dividend in its history, whose shares rose by more than 14% on the background of this news.

However, there are still many companies that have a more conservative policy when it comes to returning funds to investors. For example, online retail giant Amazon has spent no more than $10 billion on share buybacks each time, and has never paid a dividend at all.