San Francisco: Yahoo! Inc has told the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it will increase its share buyback programme by $2 billion.

Yahoo\'s board of directors on Thursday approved the additional buybacks, Efe news agency reported.

\"The board of directors of Yahoo! Inc. approved an additional share repurchase programme of $2 billion which will expire on March 31, 2018,\" said the company document submitted to the SEC.

The decision extends to $5 billion the buyback that the company started in 2013.

Buyback programmes are commonly used to boost the price of securities in stock exchange as reducing the number of outstanding shares increases the relative value of those remaining.

Yahoo! boosts share buyback by $2 bn