Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) will begin a specialty auction to repurchase up to $10 billion of its shares, the company announced Tuesday.
The company announced the share repurchase would be a "modified Dutch auction," a process which allows shareholders to declares the number of and price at which they sell their shares.
A news release reported that the offer was "made upon the terms and subject to the conditions described in the offer to purchase and in the related letter of transmittal."
The closing price of Qualcomm's common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on July 30, the last full trading day before the commencement of the offer, was $62.04 per share. The offer is scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, at the end of the day on August 27, unless the offer is extended.
The release goes on to say that "Qualcomm believes that the Offer represents an efficient mechanism to provide Qualcomm's stockholders with the opportunity to tender all or a portion of their stock and thereby receive a return of some or all of their investment in Qualcomm if they so elect."
The offer is "the first step in a broader stock repurchase program that may include future open market transactions and/or accelerated share repurchase transactions." It is not contingent upon obtaining any financing.
The company’s shares began Tuesday up $2.06, or 3.3%, to $64.10, within a 52-week trading range of $48.56 to $69.28.
