Amazon shares rise in after hours trading as it unveils $5bn stock buyback
Shares in US online retail giant Amazon spiked, before settling 1.4 per cent higher in after-hours trading, after it unveiled plans to buy back $5bn (£3.4bn) of shares.
The company said will buy back shares "opportunistically from time to time when it believes that doing so would enhance long-term shareholder value", it said in a regulatory filing today.
The scheme will be the company's first share buyback programme in six years.
Last month the company posted figures showing income had more than doubled year-on-year in the final quarter of last year to $482m (£336m). Meanwhile, sales rose 22 per cent to $35.7bn – but it missed expectations of $35.9bn, causing shares to fall.
"Measured by the dynamism we see everywhere in the marketplace and by the ever-expanding opportunities we see to invent on behalf of customers, it feels every bit like day one," enthused Jeff Bezos, the company's chief executive.