Big Tech cut share buybacks by 83% due to AI spending — Channel NewsAsia
The largest US technology companies — Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Oracle — returned only 9.3% of the funds generated by their businesses to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in the first nine months of 2026. A year earlier, this figure stood at 27.4%. As Channel NewsAsia reports, this is the smallest share in at least 15 years.
Spending exceeded operating cash flow
The combined operating cash flow of the five companies rose by 29% year on year to a record $542.9 billion. At the same time, capital expenditures amid the artificial intelligence boom doubled to $556.9 billion. For the first time in available data dating back to 2011, they exceeded the amount of money these companies received from operating activities.
As a result, the combined free cash flow of Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Oracle turned negative, reaching minus $14 billion. During the same period in 2025, the companies had a combined free cash flow surplus of $143.5 billion.
Share buybacks fell sharply
The largest decline was in share buybacks: over nine months, they fell by 83%, from $81.8 billion to $13.6 billion. At the same time, dividend payments rose from $33.9 billion to $37 billion.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Alphabet and Meta did not repurchase their own shares in 2026, although they jointly spent $66.5 billion on this in the first nine months of the previous year. Amazon does not pay dividends and has not repurchased shares since 2022. Almost the entire volume of buybacks among these five companies came from Microsoft: in the quarter ending in September, it allocated $4.4 billion for this purpose, compared with $5.7 billion a year earlier.
Payments were financed with reserves and debt
With negative combined free cash flow, the $50.6 billion in shareholder payments were effectively financed through cash reserves, borrowing or share sales. In particular, Amazon spent $75.9 billion on capital expenditures in the third quarter — nearly 80% more than its $42.4 billion in operating cash flow — and raised $48.1 billion in long-term debt. Alphabet also had negative free cash flow and raised about $12.4 billion through share sales and $29 billion in debt financing.
Amazon expects around $220 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, while the other companies have also signaled further increases in investment.
