NEW YORK (Bloomberg) ? Accenture Ltd., whose consulting and computer-services customers include AT&T Corp., said it will sell about 50 million shares to the public and use the money to buy back privately owned stock from former partners.

The company will offer about 35.8 million newly issued shares, and some employees and former partners will offer 14.2 million shares, Accenture said in a Business Wire statement. Proceeds will be used to buy shares held by employees and former partners that were issued when the company went public.

Accenture, formerly named Andersen Consulting, split from accounting group Andersen Worldwide SC in 2000 and became a publicly held company in 2001 in a $1.7 billion initial sale of stock. Instead of paying cash to partners for their stakes in the firm, Accenture issued shares of the new company. Former partners are the company's largest stakeholders.

Shares of Hamilton, Bermuda-based Accenture fell 98 cents to $23.78 at 9:43 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They had declined 5.9 percent this year.