How American corporations squandered $538 billion in 2018

Let's talk about stock buybacks

Waste.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, Miodrag Kitanovic/iStock)

Here's a story about how U.S. corporations completely wasted $538 billion in 2018.

You've probably heard of stock buybacks by now: These are where companies repurchase their own stock from shareholders. The practice was actually forbidden by federal regulations until a rule change in 1982, and it's taken off like a rocket since. Between 2010 and 2017, U.S. companies dumped hundreds of billions into stock buybacks each year.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.