Post #15933 by Munger_Disciple on the Berkshire Hathaway board

Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) ❤

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Old school common sense thinking does not go over well here. Well, we learn something new every day. It was on this board and this board only that we learned that stock buybacks are not a return of capital to shareholders despite the fact that over the years many of the greatest CEO's, investors, etc. have said otherwise.

Only a dividend is true return of capital. Buyback can be thought of as forced (tax-friendly) reinvestment of an equivalent amount of a dividend for continuing shareholders. So buyback can be wonderful if the business has decent prospects and repurchases are made at a discount to intrinsic value (example BRK), or awful if the business deteriorates after buyback (example CHTR, SIRI) because the continuing shareholder was forced to own a bigger piece of a deteriorating pie.

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