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Amazon shares jump on its plan to split stock, buy back up to $10 billion

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 2019
                                Amazon packages move along a conveyor prior to Amazon robots transporting packages from workers to chutes that are organized by zip code, at an Amazon warehouse facility in Goodyear, Ariz.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS / 2019

Amazon packages move along a conveyor prior to Amazon robots transporting packages from workers to chutes that are organized by zip code, at an Amazon warehouse facility in Goodyear, Ariz.

Amazon.com Inc. said it will split its stock 20-1 subject to a vote of shareholders scheduled May 25. The shares jumped about 7% in extended trading on the news.

The e-commerce giant’s board also approved a $10 billion share buyback program, the company said Wednesday in a regulatory filing. The repurchase authorization replaces a current $5 billion plan approved in 2016. the company bought $2.12 billion under that plan.

Because it’s one of only seven companies in the S&P 500 that trade for more $1,000, Amazon has long been the subject of speculation about a potential split. The company previously split its stock three times in 1998 and 1999. The shares closed at $2,785.58 Wednesday in New York.

Share splits had almost disappeared from U.S. stock markets recently, with only two in 2019 compared with 47 splits in the S&P 500 in 2006 and 2007. But Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc., brought tback he practice after splitting their stocks in 2020.

A lower stock price makes it easier for mom-and-pop traders to buy shares rather than purchase fractional stocks through their brokerage firms.

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