That quote is just an explanation of what you can do with profits. It doesn't say anything about buybacks diminishing investment in R&D. Secondly, net income an

That quote is just an explanation of what you can do with profits. It doesn't say anything about buybacks diminishing investment in R&D. Secondly, net income and profit are not the same thing. If a company is allocating more profit to buybacks, that doesn't funge against R&D or employee salaries. It funges against dividends and retained earnings.