4 ms·

True, but I don't think buybacks are likely to be scaled sufficiently to solve the "problem." Apple, maybe. They do have a dividend paying history and they don'

True, but I don't think buybacks are likely to be scaled sufficiently to solve the "problem." Apple, maybe. They do have a dividend paying history and they don't like to spread. The Alphabet & FB buybacks represent about 5% of those companies' cash reserves... not enough to change anything. Apple have $200bn, though I'm not sure if this is net or gross of the buyback. I think of these buybacks more as supporting evidence to what I said previously. There is a hell of a lot of "what are you going to do with all this cash" pressure on these companies. That said $77bn (I've seen $90bn reported) is a truly stupendous sum. Has there ever been a buyback at this scale?

totalZero 5y ago
Apple does the largest buyback in the equity markets. Their derivative-based ASR is larger than the entire buyback program of many major companies. https://s2.q4cdn.com/470004039/files/doc_financials/2021/q2/Q2'21-Return-of-Capital-Timeline.pdf https://s2.q4cdn.com/470004039/files/doc_financials/2021/q2/... At $77B, that buyback program amounts to a $300m bid for Apple stock every trading day....much to the delight of executives whose compensation is tied to share price performance. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/apple-ceo-tim-cook-receives-first-major-stock-grant-since-2011.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/apple-ceo-tim-cook-receives-...