Multinational multimedia conglomerate News Corporation was already sitting on a great deal of cash, and had authorization to spend up to $1.8B of it to buy back its own stock. With even more cash expected to accumulate between now and year’s end, it is upping the buyback authorization to $5B.
The move comes as the stock is being hammered on Wall Street in the wake of the ongoing phone hacking scandal that is currently rocking the United Kingdom.
The company announced its plan and reported it to the SEC. It said, “News Corporation today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program totaling $5 billion. This program increases the approximately $1.8 billion remaining under the Company’s current program to $5 billion. News Corporation is targeting to acquire the $5 billion of Class A common stock and Class B common stock from time to time over the next 12 months.
News Corp. continued, “Repurchases under the program will be made through open market transactions. The timing of such transactions and class of shares purchased depend on a variety of factors, including market conditions and blackout periods. The Company is currently in a blackout period and does not intend to commence the repurchase program until that period expires on August 15, 2011. The share repurchase program does not obligate the company to repurchase any dollar amount or number of shares of its common stock, and the program may be extended, modified, suspended or discontinued at any time.”
