CNN Money: Corporate America is spending more on buybacks than anything else
A report out this week shows that shareholders of S&P 500 companies gained $384 billion worth of buybacks through the first half of 2018.
Meanwhile, a recent Ohio study detailed that of the ten most common jobs in the state, only two pay enough for the employee to rent a two-bedroom apartment.
This is the kind of inequality that Sherrod fights against every day in the Senate. It is fundamentally unfair that the wealthiest 1% continue to reap the profits of the GOP’s tax scam while millions of families across the country struggle to make ends meet. If you agree, make your voice heard now:
CNN Money: Corporate America is spending more on buybacks than anything else
Matt Egan – September 17, 2018
Key points:
- For the first time in a decade, Corporate America is steering more money into stock buybacks than investing in the future.
- S&P 500 companies rewarded shareholders with $384 billion worth of buybacks during the first half of 2018, according to a Goldman Sachs report published Friday.
- That big bonanza for Wall Street is up 48% from last year and reflects spiking profitability thanks to corporate tax cuts.
- And while business spending spending is up slightly—on new equipment, research projects and factories—buybacks are growing much faster.
- The trend may not be done yet. Goldman Sachs predicted that share buyback authorizations among all US companies in all of 2018 will surpass $1 trillion for the first time ever.
- Buybacks are typically cheered by shareholders, at least in the short term. One reason is that buybacks artificially inflate earnings per share by eliminating the number of shares outstanding.
Read more here.
