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Stock buyback is equivalent to paying a dividend. If stock buybacks are prevented, companies will continue to layoff and pay out dividends. It doesn't solve the

Stock buyback is equivalent to paying a dividend. If stock buybacks are prevented, companies will continue to layoff and pay out dividends. It doesn't solve the root cause that employees don't have a seat at the decision-making table. At a minimum, if corporation laws were modified such that every laid off employee must be issued 1 year worth of shares as a golden parachute, the incentives will all get aligned very quickly and employees will not be abruptly thrown away.

mrcode007 3y ago
It is not the same as a dividend. Not even close. By definition, one returns cash, the other doesn’t. The stock buyback also prevents market price discovery because of an artificial price floor. The buyback is also a subject to buyback tax, transaction fee at the broker, and the benefits of the buyback are not captured by the long term holders, only by short term holders, e.g. insiders, who often sell into the buyback guaranteeing a price floor and effectively an execution price.