Facebook spends $9.4 billion in the first 9 months of 2018 to buy back 54 million worth of its class A common stock shares.Facebook Inc. said on Friday that to increase its share of the buyback program by $9 billion, it has approved a plan.
Previously in 2017, Facebook had authorized repurchases of of the company’s class A common stock up to $15 billion. In this year this is the 2nd increase in the company’s repurchase program. In April, the program boosted by $9 billion.
As per Facebook’s quarterly filing done on Oct. 31 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the social-media giant spent $9.39 billion to purchase back 54 million of its class A common stock shares. Then, it was having $3.54 billion left in the program.
When the securities filing announces the increment, the company said that the repurchase program does not have an expiration date.
The reason behind the buyback announcement is the Facebook’s share price has come down about 37% from its highest value recorded in July amid the privacy issues, questions about how the company handles its data and in tech stocks’ overall slide. Facebook shares closed on Friday at $137.42 and rose 0.7% in the post-market trading.
