Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved, effective immediately, a new $10.0 billion stock repurchase authorization. The new stock repurchase authorization is in addition to the Company’s stock repurchase program announced in July 2018, which has $0.9 billion of repurchase authority remaining.
The new stock repurchase program has no expiration date. The timing of stock repurchases and the number of shares of common stock to be repurchased will depend upon prevailing market conditions and other factors. Repurchases under this program will be made using the Company’s cash resources and may be commenced or suspended from time-to-time at the Company’s discretion without prior notice. Repurchases may be made in the open market, through 10b5-1 programs, through accelerated share repurchase programs, in privately negotiated transactions, or through the use of derivative instruments.
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G, and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.
Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research, and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business. For more information, visit www.qualcomm.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding the amounts to be repurchased under our stock repurchase programs, the timing thereof, the types of transactions through which shares may be repurchased and the funding sources to be used to effectuate repurchases. Actual results may differ materially from those referred to in the forward-looking statements due to a number of important factors, including but not limited to: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and government policies and other measures designed to limit its spread; our customers’ and licensees’ sales of products and services based on CDMA, OFDMA and other communications technologies, including 5G, and our customers’ demand for our products based on these technologies; competition in an environment of rapid technological change, and our ability to adapt to such change and compete effectively; our dependence on a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of premium-tier devices; our customers’ vertically integrating; a significant portion of our business being concentrated in China, which is exacerbated by U.S./China trade and national security tensions; efforts by some OEMs to avoid paying fair and reasonable royalties for the use of our intellectual property, and other attacks on our licensing business model, including through legal proceedings and governmental investigations and proceedings, and actions of quasi-governmental bodies and standards and industry organizations; potential changes in our patent licensing practices, whether due to governmental investigations, legal challenges or otherwise; the continued and future success of our licensing programs, which requires us to continue to evolve our patent portfolio and to renew or renegotiate license agreements that are expiring; our dependence on a limited number of third-party suppliers; risks associated with the operation and control of our manufacturing facilities; our ability to extend our technologies and products into new and expanded product areas and adjacent industry segments and applications beyond mobile; our strategic acquisitions, transactions and investments, and our ability to consummate strategic acquisitions; security breaches of our information technology systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information; difficulties in enforcing and protecting our intellectual property rights; claims by third parties that we infringe their intellectual property; our use of open source software; our ability to attract and retain qualified employees; failures in our products or in the products of our customers or licensees, including those resulting from security vulnerabilities, defects or errors; the cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry, declines in global, regional or local economic conditions, or our stock price and earnings volatility; our ability to comply with laws, regulations, policies and standards; our indebtedness; and potential tax liabilities. These and other risks are set forth in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 27, 2021 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Our reports filed with the SEC are available on our website at www.qualcomm.com. We undertake no obligation to update, or continue to provide information with respect to, any forward-looking statement or risk factor, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.