US tech groups borrow to placate shareholders with cash. Chinese rivals issue dollar debt to build empires. Tencent, the $500bn gaming and social media group, last Thursday raised $5bn of new debt. Before splashing out on start-ups, it and Asian peers should consider payouts to shareholders.
Tencent put 11 per cent of its Rmb61bn ($9.5bn) net income into dividends and buybacks in the 12 months to September. Apple and Oracle pay out a quarter as dividends on top of substantial buybacks.
Alibaba, which raised $7bn of dollar debt in November, pays no dividend. Its buybacks do little more than offset share issuance.
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