Clorox To Buy Back Shares

The board of directors of The Clorox Company today authorized the company to increase its previously announced share repurchase program by an additional $500 million. Clorox will use its free cash flow to purchase shares of the company’s common stock over the next one to two years. The share repurchase program was first announced on Aug. 8, 2001, with an initial authorization of $500 million in free cash flow to be used to finance the program, of which $418 million has been spent to repurchase 10 million shares.

Further reflecting the company’s strong free cash flow, the board of directors also approved an increase of about 5 percent in the company’s quarterly dividend rate. The quarterly cash dividend will be increased to 22 cents per share from 21 cents per share. The fourth quarter dividend at this new rate will be payable Aug. 15, 2002, to stockholders of record on July 31, 2002.