This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English EconomicsReport.

Investors take a risk when they buy shares of ownership in acompany. Shareholders could lose their investment if the companydoes not have enough money. But what happens if a company has moremoney than it needs? Both situations have current examples. Oneinvolves the Russian oil company Yukos. The other involvesMicrosoft.

The American company makes the operating systems used on morethan ninety percent of personal computers. It has fifty-six thousandmillion dollars saved in the bank. The company has been underpressure to return some of that money to its investors.

So last week Microsoft announced a plan to make a one-timepayment to its shareholders of three dollars per share. Microsoftwill pay out thirty-two thousand million dollars. This will be thelargest such payout by any company.

The largest shareholder in Microsoft is its chairman, Bill Gates.He will get three thousand million dollars. He has promised to givethat to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support its healthand education programs. He is already the richest man in the world.

Microsoft also plans to increase it regular dividend payments toshareholders. And it says it will buy back thirty thousand milliondollars of its stock over the next four years. The stock price hasnot changed much in the last few years. A reduction in shares on themarket should increase the value for investors.

But there was more bad news this week for investors in Russia'sbiggest oil company. Share prices fell after reports of a possibleproduction halt linked to efforts by court officers to collect ahuge debt. Oil prices rose. Yukos produces two percent of theworld's oil.

The Russian government says the company owes as much as tenthousand-million dollars in taxes. The government has threatened tosell the most productive part of Yukos.

Yukos officials are also in trouble. The biggest shareholder,Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is in jail. Supporters say charges offinancial crimes are part of a government campaign against him.Mister Khodorkovsky is Russia's richest man. He could face apossible sentence of ten years in prison.

Last Friday, a group of investors based in Britain offered to paythe debts of Yukos. The group is seeking control of the company.Yukos shares are traded in Britain, Germany, Russia and the UnitedStates.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by MarioRitter. This is Bob Doughty.