Microsoft Boosts Dividend 11%, Adds Two New Directors To Board

(RTTNews) - Software giant Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) announced late Tuesday an eleven percent increase in quarterly dividend and added two new directors to the board. However, the dividend increase is the smallest since 2009, and half of last year's hike.

"As we continue to focus on the company's transformation and the board continues to evaluate capital strategy options, this dividend increase is another step in our ongoing commitment to increase capital returns to shareholders," CFO Amy Hood said in a statement.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, announced an 11 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.31 per share from the previous quarter's dividend of $0.28 per share. The new dividend is payable on December 11 to shareholders of record on Nov. 20, 2014.

The dividend increase is the smallest since 2009 and just half the 22 percent dividend rise of last year. In September 2012, Microsoft had increased the quarterly dividend by 15 percent.

Microsoft also said that Kraft Foods Group, Inc, (KRFT) CEO Teri List-Stoll and Visa, Inc. (V) CEO Charles Scharf will join the board on October 1, when it will have a 12-person board. Scharf will be joining the board's governance and nominating committee, while List-Stoll will be joining the audit committee.

"I'm excited to have both Teri and Charlie joining our board. Teri brings exceptional financial and operational expertise, as well as great insights from her two decades of experience in consumer and retail industries. Charlie, as a sitting CEO of a large global business, brings additional strategic and operational depth to the Microsoft board, as well as a deep understanding of how commerce is changing globally," CEO Satya Nadella stated.

They will replace board members Dave Marquardt and Dina Dublon, who will retire from the board at the end of their current terms in December. Marquardt has served on the Microsoft board since 1981 in a variety of capacities, while Dublon joined the Microsoft board in 2005, and has chaired the compensation committee.

Microsoft has been transforming itself since Nadella took over the reins of the company from Steve Ballmer in February 2014. It has made changes to its board recently as it undergoes a change in leadership under Nadella.

In mid-August, Ballmer also resigned from the board to mainly focus on the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, which he recently acquired for $2 billion. Co-founder Bill Gates stepped down as chairman in February when Nadella was appointed CEO but remains on the board and is Microsoft's technology adviser. Another director, Seagate Technology plc (STX) CEO Stephen Luczo, stepped down in March.

The beginning of 2015 will see Microsoft having a ten-person board with six of then having joined the board since 2012. This is expected to give the company fresh thinking in the board.

MSFT closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $46.76, up $0.52 or 1.12% on a volume of 27.91 million shares.