Very interesting. Of course you could replicate it with dividends as well by saying "I'll be paying X$ per outstanding share as well as offering to swap any opt

Very interesting. Of course you could replicate it with dividends as well by saying "I'll be paying X$ per outstanding share as well as offering to swap any option by another with a strike price that's X$ lower". The fact that the buyback does the same thing in a mostly unnoticed way is a very nice hack.