Bridgestone in $1.3 Billion Share Buyback After Profit Drop
Bridgestone Corp. tires sit stacked at a warehouse in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015. Pep Boys shares jumped 8.8 percent after Carl Icahn raised his takeover offer for the auto-parts chain to more than $1 billion, escalating a bidding war with Bridgestone.
Photographer: Joe Buglewicz/BloombergBridgestone Corp. said it will purchase up to 150 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in the Japanese tiremaker’s biggest stock buyback since at least 2000 to improve capital efficiency and boost enterprise value.
The Tokyo-based company will buy back as many as 50 million shares, or 6.4 percent of stock outstanding, and cancel them in addition to another 20 million in treasury stock, it said in a statement on Friday. The manufacturer’s stock gained 0.9 percent to 4,315 yen before the announcement.