ELi5: Why do people dislike stock buybacks, but not stock dividends?

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How are stock buybacks any worse than dividend payouts to investors?

I get how they are logistically different, but to me, whether you give the investors cash that they use to buy more stock, or you internally increase the value of a stock by buying it back with company funds, the result is the same – Investors get richer at the cost of investment.

Not saying buybacks aren’t bad, but I guess I just don’t understand the hate relative to dividend payments.

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67 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

People understand that bankers and executives like buybacks, and that bankers and executives make what look like excessive salaries on the backs of ordinary workers. So without thinking too hard, the buyback smells like another tool that the finance industry uses to extract money from ordinary workers for their own benefit.

You don’t have to dig into the mechanics of how a buyback works, that is not the level at which ordinary people think about finance. They just see finance bros making lots of money with obscure financial wizardry and assume it’s coming from them.

Anonymous 0 Comments

People understand that bankers and executives like buybacks, and that bankers and executives make what look like excessive salaries on the backs of ordinary workers. So without thinking too hard, the buyback smells like another tool that the finance industry uses to extract money from ordinary workers for their own benefit.

You don’t have to dig into the mechanics of how a buyback works, that is not the level at which ordinary people think about finance. They just see finance bros making lots of money with obscure financial wizardry and assume it’s coming from them.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Shareholders don’t dislike buybacks, do they? Fewer shares on the market = higher price, no?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Shareholders don’t dislike buybacks, do they? Fewer shares on the market = higher price, no?

Anonymous 0 Comments

People understand that bankers and executives like buybacks, and that bankers and executives make what look like excessive salaries on the backs of ordinary workers. So without thinking too hard, the buyback smells like another tool that the finance industry uses to extract money from ordinary workers for their own benefit.

You don’t have to dig into the mechanics of how a buyback works, that is not the level at which ordinary people think about finance. They just see finance bros making lots of money with obscure financial wizardry and assume it’s coming from them.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Shareholders don’t dislike buybacks, do they? Fewer shares on the market = higher price, no?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because it’s a buzzword. People also don’t understand the step-up method for stocks when people inherit. They just get irrationally mad that rich people exist.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because it’s a buzzword. People also don’t understand the step-up method for stocks when people inherit. They just get irrationally mad that rich people exist.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Stock buybacks often deplete cash reserves, and if the stock then goes down the company is in even worse shape than before. And if the stock goes up, there’s a reluctance to sell to generate cash, so again, operating cash is too low. But for a while it was seen as “what all the smart finance people are doing” so a lot of companies that should not have done it, did it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Stock buybacks often deplete cash reserves, and if the stock then goes down the company is in even worse shape than before. And if the stock goes up, there’s a reluctance to sell to generate cash, so again, operating cash is too low. But for a while it was seen as “what all the smart finance people are doing” so a lot of companies that should not have done it, did it.