Seoul: Hyundai Motor said on Wednesday it would repurchase 1 trillion won ($716 million) worth of its own shares as part of efforts to increase shareholder value. Under the buyback plan approved by the board of directors, Hyundai will repurchase 4.66 million shares, worth 1 trillion won, over a three-month period starting Thursday, the company said in a regulatory file.

They represent 1.7 percent of the company’s total listed shares. Hyundai said the aim of the buyout was to increase value for shareholders, Yonhap news agency reported. Reducing the number of shares outstanding increases profitability per share and therefore raises the stock price, thereby benefiting shareholders.

In August, Hyundai Motor announced a valuation plan to buy back 4 trillion won of its own shares over the next three years. Meanwhile, Jose Munoz, general manager of global operations of Hyundai Motor and named as the company’s next CEO, highlighted the importance of flexibility in managing its product portfolio in the United States, in a context of looming uncertainties under a second Donald Trump administration.

Munoz was named CEO of the automaker starting next year as part of major leadership appointments across several Hyundai Motor Group units. In other subsidiaries, Kia, the country’s second-largest automaker, promoted Choi Jun-young, currently vice president of the domestic production division, to president. Lee Kyu-bok, vice president and CEO of logistics subsidiary Hyundai Glovis Co., was also promoted to president.

The appointment of the company’s first non-Korean CEO comes as Hyundai and its subsidiary Kia prepare for a tumultuous future for their U.S. operations, especially as Trump’s transition team reportedly aims to get rid of the program Electric Vehicle (EV) Tax Credit, which is part of the Electric Vehicle (EV) Tax Credit program. the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) introduced under the current Joe Biden administration.