TREASURY STOCK

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

At December 31, 2018, the Company had a total remaining authorization of $4.5 billion to repurchase its common stock related to a program authorized by the Company's Board of Directors in 2018 for $8.0 billion. In the second quarter of 2019, the Company's Board of Directors authorized an additional program to repurchase up to $15.0 billion of the Company's common stock. At December 31, 2019, the Company had a total remaining authorization of $11.5 billion to repurchase its common stock. The Company has continued to make repurchases of its common stock in the first quarter of 2020 and may continue to make repurchases of shares under its stock repurchase program, depending on prevailing market conditions, alternate uses of capital and other factors. Whether and when to initiate and/or complete any repurchase of common stock and the amount of common stock to be repurchased will be determined at the Company's discretion. Additionally, the Board of Directors has given the Company the general authorization to repurchase shares of its common stock withheld to satisfy employee withholding tax obligations related to stock-based compensation.

The following table summarizes the Company's stock repurchase activities during the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 (in millions, except for shares, which are reflected in thousands):



	2019			2018			2017
	Shares	Amount		Shares	Amount		Shares	Amount
Authorized stock repurchase programs	4,358	$	8,002	3,020	$	5,850	969	$	1,744
General authorization for shares withheld on stock award vesting	87	151		80	162		57	100
Total	4,445	$	8,153	3,100	$	6,012	1,026	$	1,844

Shares repurchased in December and settled in following January	19	$	40	43	$	74	18	$	32

For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the Company remitted $151 million, $163 million and $101 million of employee withholding taxes, respectively, to the tax authorities, which is different from the aggregate cost of the shares withheld for taxes for each year due to the timing in remitting the taxes. The cash remitted to the tax authorities is included in financing activities in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

At December 31, 2019, there were 21,762,070 shares of the Company's common stock held in treasury.