The $8bn effort is the latest in an ongoing share repurchase campaign. HP said that it invested $1.6bn on stock buybacks last quarter as part of a previous $8bn repurchase campaign. The company estimates that it has some 2.5bn shares of stock outstanding.
The move makes HP the second major tech firm to undertake a major share buyback campaign. Microsoft announced a £22bn shareholder repurchase effort as part of an ongoing effort to increase its stock price in the wake of its failed bid to buy Yahoo.