It's symbolic of short-termism. Instead of saving cash for emergencies or investing in new equipment, research or product lines, the cash is just 'wasted' on m

It's symbolic of short-termism. Instead of saving cash for emergencies or investing in new equipment, research or product lines, the cash is just 'wasted' on manipulating a share price in order to boost quarterly targets. A lot of the time, management is then rewarded for the increased share price, which doesn't necessarily reflect the performance of the business in terms of their ouput, number of widgets sold or whatever.