Columbia/HCA to buy back more common stock

Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation, Nashville, Tennessee, has announced it intends to repurchase up to $1 billion of its common stock through open-market purchases, privately negotiated transactions, or a series of forward-purchase contracts. Since 1997, the company has repurchased about $3 billion

of its common stock. In addition, a $1 billion repurchase program that was authorized in November 1999 was completed in February 2000. Most of those shares were purchased by financial organizations through a series of forward-purchase contracts; those 34.4 million shares remain outstanding until the forward-purchase contracts are settled by the company. Columbia/HCA had about 564 million shares outstanding as of December 31, 1999.