US companies announce record share buybacks, Covid hits India’s middle class
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2021
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Companies are dusting off share buyback plans after a blockbuster earnings season, and shareholders are rebelling against executive pay proposals. Plus, the FT’s New Delhi reporter, Jyotsna Singh, explains how India’s second surge is devastating the country’s middle class.
Companies prepare share buyback bonanza as outlook clears
https://www.ft.com/content/d7adb226-e9a6-4cd8-9049-35d55c211ca4
US investors revolt against executive pay in record numbers
https://www.ft.com/content/50e73d21-3de5-4196-b124-7281ec7af828
Covid batters India’s aspiring middle classes
https://www.ft.com/content/28e9c827-1131-4412-bafa-5e88eb211fc4?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday, May 12th, and this is your FT News Briefing. |
| 0:08.4 | In today's show, we're talking about how companies spend their money. First, we'll look at US |
| 0:13.1 | companies that are emerging from the pandemic with plans to buy back shares and record amounts. |
| 0:18.0 | Then we'll look at executive pay, and how investors are increasingly pushing back against |
| 0:22.9 | boardroom bonuses. Plus, we'll go to India for a look at how the recent coronavirus surge |
| 0:27.8 | is devastating the country's middle class. And mind you, India's middle class are a very |
| 0:33.8 | important factor in its economic growth. I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:46.3 | Some US stocks could get a boost from a wave of share buybacks. From January through to the end of |
| 0:51.7 | April this year, US companies have announced a record $484 billion in buybacks. The FT's US |
| 0:58.6 | equity correspondent Aziza Kazumov is covering this. Yeah, so if you think about it, |
| 1:04.0 | share buybacks cost companies a lot of money, since they have to go and buy back the shares |
| 1:08.0 | at the market price with cash. And a year ago or so, companies really didn't know how bad and how |
| 1:13.8 | long this crisis was going to be. So, under those circumstances, you really didn't want to be |
| 1:19.2 | spending excess cash on something like your own shares. But in the last couple of months, |
| 1:23.6 | those dynamics have changed with the vaccine rollout and cases trending down and the sort of reopening |
| 1:28.4 | kicking into gear. So, companies now have are a lot more secure about their futures. They sort of |
| 1:33.8 | know better what's coming down the pipeline. They have found themselves with a lot of cash on hand |
| 1:38.4 | because there's been all this pent up demand and people have started spending a lot more in the |
| 1:42.2 | first quarter. So, companies are just in a lot better place, which is why a lot of them have started |
| 1:47.3 | doing buybacks again. Aziza Kazumov is the FTZ-US equity correspondent. |
| 1:57.6 | Yesterday, AstraZeneca shareholders voted on a plan to increase the CEO's potential bonus |
| 2:02.9 | for a second straight year. In the end, 60% of shareholders voted yes, but 40% saying no? That |
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