Capital stock

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2021

Capital Stock [Abstract]

Capital stock

Capital stock

In June 2018, Walgreens Boots Alliance authorized a stock repurchase program (the “June 2018 stock repurchase program”), which authorized the repurchase of up to $10.0 billion of the Company's common stock, which program has no specified expiration date. The Company purchased 30 million shares under the June 2018 stock repurchase program in fiscal 2020 at a cost of $1.5 billion. In July 2020, the Company announced that it had suspended activities under this program and no shares were repurchased in fiscal 2021. As of August 31, 2021, the Company had approximately $2.0 billion remaining under the June 2018 stock repurchase program.

The Company determines the timing and amount of repurchases based on its assessment of various factors including prevailing market conditions, alternate uses of capital, liquidity, the economic environment and other factors. The timing and amount of these purchases may change at any time and from time to time. The Company has repurchased, and may from time to time in the future repurchase, shares on the open market through Rule 10b5-1 plans, which enable a company to repurchase shares at times when it otherwise might be precluded from doing so under insider trading laws.

In addition, the Company continued to repurchase shares to support the needs of the employee stock plans. Shares totaling $110 million were purchased to support the needs of the employee stock plans during fiscal 2021 as compared to $103 million and $339 million in fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2019, respectively. As of August 31, 2021, 71 million shares of common stock were reserved for future issuances under the Company’s various employee benefit plans.