KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: It is now time to check on business developments. Microsoft shareholders may soon be in for a windfall. Let's get the details from Carrie Lee at the Nasdaq market site. Good morning -- Carrie.</s>CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kris. That's right, according to the "Financial Times," the software giant is considering paying its shareholders a total of over $10 billion. This translates into roughly $1 per share in the form of a new corporate dividend, and this would be the biggest corporate payout ever. Now Microsoft does currently offer a dividend, but it's only about 8 cents per share. So going up to about a dollar, quite an increase here. The "FT" says that Microsoft will pay the dividend in either one payment or spread it over three or four quarters as a way to reduce its $46 billion of cash on hand. Quite an enviable position to have so much money. A Microsoft spokesperson is declining to comment. Interesting to note, Kris, that Microsoft is a stock has underperformed not only the Nasdaq but also the S&P; 500 over the past six months, over the past year. This morning, partially on this news, it looks like Microsoft shares are moving higher.</s>OSBORN: Well, Carrie, any anticipated fallout from the, well, less-than-favorable job numbers that emerged at the end of last week?</s>LEE: Well interesting to note, we did see a little bit of a pull back for the indexes, the broad market on Thursday, which was a shortened session. But for the week, both the Dow and the Nasdaq gained about 1 percent, the Nasdaq up 2.3. And I think this week people are really going to move beyond that number because this is when corporate profit reporting takes off. So tomorrow, we'll hear from Alcoa, the first Dow component to report, but I think people are really starting to think about profits now that it's a new week -- Kris.</s>OSBORN: Yes. Thank you, Carrie, we'll talk with you soon.
Microsoft Considers $10 Billion Dividend