Totally amazed that share buybacks are controversial. If a company believes its shares are undervalued, and the best place to use its capital, then it should bu

Totally amazed that share buybacks are controversial. If a company believes its shares are undervalued, and the best place to use its capital, then it should buy them back. In the same way, if a company decides retiring debt is in its best interest, then it should use the money that way instead (and that often happens when it has high priced debt in the markets that's callable and interest rates fall). Comparing share buy back and R&D makes no sense. Would we rather have Apple invest in R&D that it doesn't believe in, just so it has a place to put its money? If companies couldn't buy back their stocks, they most likely would pay dividends or just bank it (which is what Apple did for decades), and the share price would rise anyway. Share buybacks don't dodge taxes - at least not directly. They allow the price to rise for those people who aren't selling (in the same way that banking the money would).