GE GE, +2.09% was one of Wall Street’s major share buyback operators between 2015 and 2017; it repurchased $40 billion of shares at prices between $20 and $32. The share price is now $8.60, so the company has liquidated between $23 billion and $29 billion of its shareholders’ money on this utterly futile activity alone. Since the highest net income recorded by the company during those years was $8.8 billion in 2016, with 2015 and 2017 recording a loss, it has managed to lose more on its share repurchases during those three years than it made in operations, by a substantial margin.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/misguided-share-buybacks-are-hollowing-out-companies-balance-sheets-and-will-lead-to-even-bigger-trouble-2018-11-20
