“Amazon . com shares are moving sharply higher in after-hours trading after the e-commerce and cloud-computing giant declared a 20-for-1 stock split and announced an expanded stock-repurchase program.
“While stock splits don’t mathematically create any value for holders—they’re the financial equivalent of cutting a pie into smaller pieces—retail investors tend to like them, and split announcements often trigger short-term rallies. And, in fact, Amazon shares (ticker: AMZN) are up nearly 7% on the news, at $2,978.
“Amazon also announced a $10 billion stock-repurchase plan, replacing a previous $5 billion stock-purchase authorization in which it had bought back $2.12 billion of its shares. The program doesn’t have a fixed expiration date.
“The Amazon split follows an announcement last month that Alphabet (GOOGL) is also splitting its shares 20-for-1, effective July 15. Apple (AAPL) split its stock 4-for-1 in 2020.”
Read more at Barron’s
