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Microcap & Penny Stocks : TGL WHAAAAAAAT! Alerts, thoughts, discussion. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SSP who wrote (112123)	1/16/2003 5:46:47 PM
From: Jim Bishop	Respond to of 150070

Microsoft Announces Dividend, Stock Split Thursday January 16, 5:34 pm ET Microsoft Issues First-Ever Dividend, Announces Two-For-One Stock Split SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. announced its first-ever dividend to shareholders Thursday and said it will issue a two-for-one stock split. Heeding some investors calls to share in the Redmond software giant's $40.5 billion in cash, the company said it will pay an annual dividend of 16 cents per share on a pre-split basis. The announcement came as Microsoft posted a fourth quarter profit of $2.55 billion, or 47 cents a share, up from $2.28 billion or 41 cents a share in the year-ago period, slightly beating analysts' expectations. The company reported revenue of $8.54 billion for the quarter, a 10 percent increase over the $7.74 billion for the same period a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had a consensus estimate of 46 cents a share on revenue of $8.6 billion. Microsoft's board unanimously decided Thursday to issue the dividend, said chief financial officer John Connors. "We have resolved several of our outstanding legal issues," he said, including a $1.1 billion settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed by California consumers. "While we still have a number of issues outstanding, we have more clarity in terms of what the potential impact (of other lawsuits) could be." He said the Bush Administration's proposal to repeal the federal dividend tax was "just coincidental in timing." The dividend is payable March 7 to shareholders of record Feb. 21. Microsoft will regularly review the dividend program, but hopes to make it an annual payout, Connors said. "We were the only Dow 30 company that has not declared and paid a dividend," he said. Microsoft shares closed down 92 cents a share, or 1.6 percent, Thursday at $55.35 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Shares fell another $2 a share, or 3.6 percent, in extended trading after Microsoft released its first-quarter results.