The five major U.S. technology companies generated record-high cash flows this year, but their shareholder return ratio fell to its lowest level in at least 15 years.

Reuters reported on the 1st (local time), analyzing corporate filings and other data, that five companies including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Oracle returned 9.3% of the cash flow they generated from January to September this year to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.

This ratio is significantly lower than 27.4% recorded during the same period last year.

Cash flow generated this year increased by 29% compared to the same period last year, reaching 542.9 billion dollars.

This is an all-time high.

However, as these companies embarked on massive artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investments, capital expenditures surged to 556.9 billion dollars, doubling from the same period last year.

It is the first time since relevant statistics began being compiled in 2011 that capital expenditures exceeded generated cash flow.

Consequently, the combined free cash flow (FCF) of these five companies turned into a deficit of 14 billion dollars.

During the same period last year, there was a surplus of 143.5 billion dollars.

Among shareholder returns, the scale of share buybacks was drastically reduced.

It shrank by 83% from 818 billion dollars last year to 13.6 billion dollars.

However, dividends during the same period increased slightly from 33.9 billion dollars to 37 billion dollars.

Alphabet and Meta purchased 66.5 billion dollars worth of shares in the January-September period of last year, but did not buy a single share this year.

Amazon does not pay dividends and has not bought back shares since 2022.

Aaron Stanhope, co-director of investment management at Franklin Templeton, said, "Over the past 15 years, companies have steadily increased shareholder returns through share buybacks and dividends, but the current phase is characterized by increased stock and bond issuance and asking investors for capital."

(Photo: Yonhap News)