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LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- Microsoft on Tuesday revealed what it will do with its massive stockpile of cash, outlining plans to issue a special dividend worth $32 billion and a stock buyback of up to $30 billion over the next four years. In an announcement that many on Wall Street awaited for several months, Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile) said it would pay the one-time dividend of $3 per share and move to a quarterly dividend of 8 cents per share. In annual terms, the new policy essentially doubles the company's current shareholder payout of 16 cents a share to...

Harley-Davidson, Inc. Declares Dividend Tuesday February 10, 6:43 pm ET MILWAUKEE, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HDI - News) announced today that its Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of 8 cents per share, payable March 25, 2004 to shareholders of record as of March 11, 2004. Harley-Davidson, Inc. is the parent company for the group of companies doing business as Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Buell Motorcycle Company and Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Inc. Harley-Davidson Motor Company, the only major U.S.-based motorcycle manufacturer, produces heavyweight motorcycles and offers a complete line of motorcycle parts, accessories, apparel, and general...

Harley-Davidson, Inc. Doubles Quarterly Dividend Friday December 5, 10:17 am ET MILWAUKEE, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HDI - News) announced today that its Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of 8 cents per share, payable December 29, 2003 to shareholders of record as of December 15, 2003. This represents a 100 percent increase over the last quarterly dividend. "The recent change in tax law has increased the attractiveness of dividends as a way of sharing the success of the Company with our shareholders," said Jeffrey L. Bleustein, chairman and chief executive officer of Harley-Davidson, Inc....

<p>PERMANENT FUND: Most dividends will be wired to banks Oct. 8.</p> <p>Qualified Alaska residents each will receive a Permanent Fund dividend of $1,107.56 this year, Gov. Frank Murkowski announced Wednesday night.</p> <p>It's considerably less than last year's payment of $1,540.76, but it's the ninth time in the 22-year history of the program that the dividend has been $1,000 or more.</p>

Microsoft is considering paying its shareholders a special dividend of more than $10bn to reduce its $46bn cash pile. Shareholders would receive the dividend in a one payment of "significantly more than $10bn" or spread over three or four quarters, according to a person close to the discussions. The dividend, which would be the largest corporate pay-out ever, is one of a number options Microsoft is looking at, the FT's sister paper, Les Echos, has learned. The other options include a buyback, acquisitions and higher ordinary dividends. A decision is expected by the end of the year. The software giant...

Democrats and the Kennedys are once again proving to be hypocrite fools suffering from the famous case of liberal amnesia. The controversy this time stems from John F. Kennedy in advertisements that support President Bush's new tax cut plan. Senator Ted Kennedy is fuming over JFK's name and image being used to support tax cuts, something he vehemently opposes. These ads in question compare the massive tax cuts of JFK to those of Reagan and Bush, and rightfully so. This ordeal is only a small part of the larger problem; that modern day Democrats and socialists have hijacked the good...

President Bush’s plan to eliminate the double taxation of corporate profits, by exempting dividends from taxation, appears to be on life support. Even before his tax package was reduced from $726 billion to $550 billion in the House and $350 billion in the Senate, the proposal was in trouble. Now, it looks very sick indeed. ... In coming days, President Bush will have to make some critical decisions about his tax plan as the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee begin to mark-up a bill—a task that they must finish by May 8. He should not let...

<p>President Bush locked up support from Sen. George Voinovich for his first batch of tax cuts in 2001 with a visit to Ohio. Now, he's trying the same pressure tactic to get the Ohio Republican's support for tax cuts of $550 billion over 10 years.</p>

<p>Senate Democrats and a few Republicans are citing the impending war against Iraq as a reason to dramatically pare down or eliminate President Bush's $726 billion economic stimulus package.</p> <p>Sen. Kent Conrad, North Dakota Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, offered a doomed amendment yesterday that would prevent the passage of the president's tax package until the costs of conflict in Iraq are known and it is explained "how these costs fit within the budget plan as a whole."</p>

Passive components shortage imminent? Tax changes could cut manufacturing By INQUIRER staff: Friday 14 February 2003, 19:18 SHARE DIVIDENDS WILL NOT BE TAXED under planned changes that could come into effect this year in the US. This could have far reaching consequences for component suppliers. More than half the suppliers in the US do not issue dividends and that could drive investors away. Shawn Wood, analyst at iSuppli, has warned that passive component suppliers face an uphill struggle to keep their capital investments going at a steady rate. He outlines three possible scenarios in a new report. The most likely...

<p>After all the gnashing of teeth, it turns out consumers turned in a positive performance during the holiday season. Retail sales increased more than 1 percent in December, yielding a near 5 percent pace over the past year.</p> <p>Consumer spending has been the backbone of our economy for the last two years. In that time, it has grown at about a 3 percent rate, despite the stock market collapse and the deep business-and-profits recession. This is a solid consumer performance — yet once again Democrats mistakenly insist on giving consumers a quick one-shot of adrenaline via temporary tax rebates. Wrong ailment, wrong cure.</p>

By November, the fix was in. Attorney General John Ashcroft had indicated that he had little interest in pursuing the case, and several Department of Justice Antitrust attorneys had already left, disillusioned. The result was a settlement neatly summarized by the financial analysts we cited at the time: "a major win; no substantive change in business model or R&D practices; maintain Buy." Ashcroft had declined to excuse himself from the case: despite having taken $20,000 in campaign contributions for his Senate campaign from Microsoft and refused to disclose contacts with the company. That said, the contribution hadn't done him much...

A Bold Beginning INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILYStimulus: We may quibble with some aspects of the president's growth-and-jobs plan. But overall, it's the broader, more-ambitious approach we were hoping for.The plan also strikes us as being thoughtful, innovative and - true again to President's Bush's word - compassionately conservative.For conservatives, the president hit most of the right notes in setting it up Tuesday. He noted (usefully) that our economic system is still the "most promising, creative and productive the world has ever seen." He stressed (sagely) that it's best served by leaving more money in the hands of the people, not the...

Stimulus: All the talk about President Bush's $674 billion stimulus plan has been focused on dividends. But slipped in among its provisions is a possible bombshell that could be very bullish for stocks.It's called an "excludable distribution account." If that doesn't sound sexy, it should. At least if you own stock. These accounts potentially will boost returns for all shareholders - not just those who own shares that pay dividends.The Bush administration - wisely, we think - wants to avoid giving stocks that pay dividends an advantage over other stocks. The reasons for this are simple: Job growth, new products...

FTN Financial Economics AM Comment: January 9, 2002 One big criticism of the Bush economic plan is that a dividend tax cut might discourage retained earnings and reinvestment. Now, Treasury has published the details and it turns out that NO earnings will be double taxed. This changes everything. It means that if a company pays taxes on $5 per share and pays a $2 dividend, the basis of the stock will be raised by the remaining $3, effectively sheltering that portion of any capital gain from tax. That means that companies paying no dividends will pass the same tax advantage...

We've called for the centerpiece of President Bush's economic stimulus plan -- the removal of a tax on dividends at the individual level -- for some time. Why? Removing this tax 1. Allows companies to make the most efficient decisions possible about their retained capital; and 2. acts as a major stabilizing force on the markets. Oh, it's on now! This past July, I proposed that the government would help bring some stability back to the markets if it ceased the practice of double taxation of dividends. At the time, frankly, I thought this had little chance of happening. Dividend...

<p>The Gipper would have loved the tax-cut plan Dubya unveiled in Chicago. Democrats -- and some conservatives -- will need convincing.</p> <p>If President George W. Bush put his new economic stimulus program to a vote among some 2,000 Chicago business leaders who heard him speak on Jan. 7, his bold plan would win hands-down. The question now is whether the rest of the country will be quite so enthusiastic.</p>