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“The analysis so far suggests that the strongest effect of repatriation was on share buybacks.” Great.

spaetzleesser 5y ago
Share buybacks and the rising valuation of of companies and real estate seems to make it pretty clear that big corporations and a lot of high wealth people have more money than they can invest into productive things like innovation and instead have to drive up the price of already existing assets.
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  Or that they would rather take the easy method to multiply their wealth instead of the hard work method? Doing nothing is always easier than building something
- s1artibartfast 5y ago
  The purpose of public stock is pay out profit to shareholders. Buybacks are a method of achieving this. Infinite growth is a joke
refurb 5y ago
If I were a shareholder I'd be happy! Seems like people get upset about decisions like this because they don't understand how these actions work.
- tata71 5y ago
  What if you were a long-term shareholder? The soon-extinct investor.
  - toast0 5y ago
    Not sure what the term has to do with it. This is money the company doesn't know what to do with (otherwise they would have paid the tax consequences and used it as needed/desired), but now that there aren't tax consequences to repatriate it and return it to shareholders, they're returning it to shareholders. Maybe some would prefer a dividend rather than a buyback; but ignoring taxes, they're equivalent in terms of value, and I can't ignore taxes. A dividend is a taxable event and a buyback isn't. I'd rather defer the taxes as much as possible.
    - youeseh 5y ago
      It seems to me that buybacks reward those who've held the stock so far but want to exit their position, and managers who want a bigger bonus short-term. In contrast, dividends reward investors who want to remain invested, but I don't know what incentive management would have unless they too are shareholders.
      - toast0 5y ago
        If I receive a dividend and don't use it to buy more shares, now I'm less invested in that stock. And I've got to pay tax. If the company buys other people's shares, now I own (very marginally) more of the company. I agree with your management incentives, although RSUs and options contracts can adjust for dividends.
- JohnJamesRambo 5y ago
  When everyone does it, you are just getting a market built on nothing that will fall even harder when times get tough. The CEO regularly cashes out their stock and the public and pensions get left holding the bag of empty pumped stock. This will happen repeatedly in the next decade.

Share buybacks and the rising valuation of of companies and real estate seems to make it pretty clear that big corporations and a lot of high wealth people have more money than they can invest into productive things like innovation and instead have to drive up the price of already existing assets.

netizen-936824 5y ago
Or that they would rather take the easy method to multiply their wealth instead of the hard work method? Doing nothing is always easier than building something
s1artibartfast 5y ago
The purpose of public stock is pay out profit to shareholders. Buybacks are a method of achieving this. Infinite growth is a joke

refurb 5y ago

If I were a shareholder I'd be happy! Seems like people get upset about decisions like this because they don't understand how these actions work.

tata71 5y ago
What if you were a long-term shareholder? The soon-extinct investor.
- toast0 5y ago
  Not sure what the term has to do with it. This is money the company doesn't know what to do with (otherwise they would have paid the tax consequences and used it as needed/desired), but now that there aren't tax consequences to repatriate it and return it to shareholders, they're returning it to shareholders. Maybe some would prefer a dividend rather than a buyback; but ignoring taxes, they're equivalent in terms of value, and I can't ignore taxes. A dividend is a taxable event and a buyback isn't. I'd rather defer the taxes as much as possible.
  - youeseh 5y ago
    It seems to me that buybacks reward those who've held the stock so far but want to exit their position, and managers who want a bigger bonus short-term. In contrast, dividends reward investors who want to remain invested, but I don't know what incentive management would have unless they too are shareholders.
    - toast0 5y ago
      If I receive a dividend and don't use it to buy more shares, now I'm less invested in that stock. And I've got to pay tax. If the company buys other people's shares, now I own (very marginally) more of the company. I agree with your management incentives, although RSUs and options contracts can adjust for dividends.
JohnJamesRambo 5y ago
When everyone does it, you are just getting a market built on nothing that will fall even harder when times get tough. The CEO regularly cashes out their stock and the public and pensions get left holding the bag of empty pumped stock. This will happen repeatedly in the next decade.