> they would just issue a special dividend to accomplish essentially the same thing just without reducing the outstanding share count Yeah. People seem to thin

> they would just issue a special dividend to accomplish essentially the same thing just without reducing the outstanding share count Yeah. People seem to think if a company didn't do a buyback they would spend the money on salaries or R&D. No, the company would issue a dividend instead. One consequence of a dividend is they typically trigger a taxable event vs. a buyback which gives the investor more options to control their tax burden. Personally, I prefer buybacks over dividends in stocks I own for this reason.