> The results were interesting.
>
> 1999's price-payout ratio, 36.8, was almost exactly equal to the postwar
> average of 35.3. Even though the price earnings ratio is over twice its
> historic average, the proportion of profits being paid out to
> shareholders, 74.4%, is also over twice its historic average of 35.1%.
>
>
Except more than all of those buybacks are being carried out with freshly borrowed money, so from the point of view of shareholders it is a wash - they get the money, but also the increased liabilities of the companies they own.
It'd be interesting to see what the numbers look like once you substract net borrowing from stock repurchases.
-- Enrique Diaz-Alvarez Office # (607) 255 5034 Electrical Engineering Home # (607) 272 4808 112 Phillips Hall Fax # (607) 255 4565 Cornell University mailto:enrique at ee.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853 http://peta.ee.cornell.edu/~enrique