By Lisa Beilfuss
Qualcomm Inc., amid pressure from an activist investor, said
Thursday that it would launch an accelerated plan to buy back $5
billion in stock.
The move is part of the semiconductor's plan, unveiled in March,
for a new $15 billion buyback program. It said at the time that it
intended to repurchase $10 billion of stock within 12 months.
Qualcomm is facing pressure from activist investor Jana Partners
LLC, which disclosed on April 13 that it had purchased more than $2
billion in stock. Jana has discussed options for boosting
Qualcomm's share price that include spinning off the company's chip
unit from its patent-licensing business, which accounts for about
two-thirds of Qualcomm's profits.
Qualcomm has said it believed the company's two-fisted business
model brought valuable synergies and that its plans to return cash
to shareholders would help boost shareholder value.
Shares of Qualcomm, down 5.5% in 2015, rose 1.4% to $70.28 in
morning trading.
The initial delivery will be 57.7 million shares, Qualcomm said
Thursday. The company added that it is funding the repurchase with
proceeds from its recently completed $10 billion debt offering.
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for QUALCOMM, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US7475251036
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires