Samsung Electronics Co. will pay out around 29 trillion won ($25.8 billion) in cash dividends over the next three years, and begin the fourth phase of its share buyback program on Wednesday to share its colossal profits with its shareholders.

The Korean tech giant Tuesday announced its detailed plan to boost shareholder value from 2018 to 2020 by holding a shareholders’ meeting after confirming its record-high earnings for the third quarter.

The company will allocate 4.8 trillion won on dividends for this year, up 20 percent from 4 trillion won last year. It plans to double the amount to 9.6 trillion won in 2018 and keep the same level in 2019 and 2020, which would stretch dividend payouts to more than 30 trillion won. The annual payout would be a huge jump from 3.1 trillion won in 2015 and 4 trillion won in 2016.

The company also said that its future merger and acquisition investments will not be reflected in the free cash flow. “This policy change will increase the amount of capital available to return to shareholders and result in greater transparency and predictability,” the company said in a press release.

In addition, it said it will set aside at least 50 percent of free cash flow for shareholder returns and maintain the level for three years, not one year, to ensure more stable and predictable shareholder returns.

Samsung Electronics also announced that it will repurchase and cancel 712,000 common shares and 178,000 preferred shares in the fourth phase of its share buyback program that will start on Wednesday and take about three months to complete. A share buyback is one of the policies to increase shareholder benefits in which a company purchases its own shares and cancels them to reduce the number of outstanding shares in the market, leading to a boost in share prices. In January, the company announced a 9.3 trillion won worth share buyback program for this year.

As of 12:25 p.m. on Tuesday, shares of Samsung Electronics rose 1.44 percent to 2,741,000 won from the previous session.

By Song Sung-hoon and Choi Mira

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