Microsoft, Oracle and three peers cut buybacks 83% to $13.6bn. AI spending is eating their cash, a Reuters analysis found.
The analysis covered the first nine months of 2026 at Microsoft, Oracle, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta, The Next Web reported on 31 October.
Capital spending doubled to $556.9bn, more than the record $542.9bn of cash their businesses brought in. That had not happened in data going back to 2011.
Buybacks fell from $81.8bn a year earlier. The five returned 9.3% of their operating cash to shareholders, the smallest share in at least 15 years. Microsoft made almost all of the remaining buybacks. Alphabet and Meta bought back none.
With free cash flow negative, the $50.6bn paid out in buybacks and dividends came from cash reserves, borrowing or share sales, Reuters found.
The companies say the spending will pay off. Oracle has set a free cash flow target of $30bn by 2029.
Our reading: capital spending ran $14bn ahead of operating cash. Oracle's 2029 target is the one public yardstick in the report for when that gap is meant to close.
Sources
Our file on Microsoft
- 2 Nov
Microsoft's new reseller Copilot seats can add usage charges to the $21 monthly fee. The default cap is 4,000 credits per user.
- 1 Nov
Microsoft's browser update left some New Outlook users unable to open email attachments. Classic Outlook, which Microsoft is phasing out, kept working.
- 1 Nov
Microsoft said Foundry will get the tool GitHub uses to run AI agents. SAP may cut off agents skipping its approved routes.
- 30 Oct
Microsoft's GitHub said AI agents wrote first drafts of over 40% of code change requests in September. In March it was 17%.
- 30 Oct
Microsoft is borrowing at least $25 billion, Bloomberg reported. Its CFO says cloud demand still exceeds what Microsoft can supply.
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