Mmm, that perspective doesn't really reflect the, I guess, party liquidity in a practical scenario. The company has money, they trade at $X. In a trivial sense

Mmm, that perspective doesn't really reflect the, I guess, party liquidity in a practical scenario. The company has money, they trade at $X. In a trivial sense it means you can buy a share for $X +- some spread. The capital return mechanism is that the company now owns the share, and can retire it, the part that really isn't important is who they got it from. It's sort of like electrons in a metal, they're just sort of around. Worrying about the behavior in specific instances doesn't paint the picture of the aggregate behavior.