|
Project Reports
News Reports
-
July 27, 2020 Wall
Street Journal: "Walgreens Says Stefano Pessina to Step Down as
CEO, Become Chairman" [Results of another activist supported
strategy]
-
June 28, 2018 Wall
Street Journal: "Walgreens to Buy Back $10 Billion in Shares,
Raises Dividend | Drugstore chain becomes the latest company to return
additional capital to investors following new U.S. tax law" [Risking
ability to adapt for engineering of current stock trading price]
-
June 1, 2015 The Deal: "Why some investors dread proxy
campaigns" [Similar interests of long term equity and
debt investors threatened by short term investor pressures]
-
December 31, 2014 Wall Street
Journal: "KKR to Earn Big Payout From Walgreen-Alliance Boots
Deal | Private-Equity Firm on Track to Quadruple Its Investment in the
European Pharmacy Giant" [Doubling private equity sale
profit with enhancement of buyer's stock price]
-
December 10, 2014
Fortune: "Walgreen CEO to leave after Alliance Boots deal in reversal
of plan" [Sudden retirement of CEO raises questions two
weeks after proxy statement for merger vote]
-
November 5, 2014 Wall Street
Journal: "Walgreen Prepares Large Bond Sale For Alliance Boots
Deal" [Securities offering focused on long term enterprise
value]
-
October 28, 2014 CNBC (video interview): "After merger, where's
Walgreen Boots Alliance headed?" [Executive's views of
strategies for merged companies]
-
September 18, 2014
Bloomberg: "Walgreen Bulls Bet Investor
Activism Will Cure Tax Pain" [Use of speculation pricing as
measure of company performance]
-
September 10, 2014 Bloomberg: "Power Struggle at Walgreen as
Biggest Shareholder Rises" [Foundations of alliance supporting
inversion and stock buybacks]
-
September 9, 2014
Bloomberg: "Walgreen Pressured to Up Buyback as Activist Wins
Seats" [Competing views of stock buyback benefits]
-
September 8, 2014
Wall Street Journal: "Activist Investor Scores
a Win at Walgreen" [Increasing board use of privately
negotiated appeasement for truce with activists]
-
August 3, 2014
Wall Street Journal: "Activist Firms Join Tax-Deal
Push" [Activists pressing long term corporate strategies based
on short term tax loophole]
-
May 14, 2014
Bloomberg: "Jana Says Firm Is Working With
Walgreen After Transaction" [Activist promotion based on
"behind the scenes" preferential access]
Company Reports (see
Walgreen Co. Investor
Relations)
-
December 10, 2014
Walgreen Co. press release: "Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson
Announces He Will Retire Following Completion of Merger with Alliance
Boots"
-
November 24, 2014, Walgreen Co.,
SEC Form DEFM14A Definitive Proxy Statement: Special Meeting of
Shareholders on December 29, 2014 to vote on Reorganization Proposal
(495 pages, 3.9 MB, in PDF
format)
-
November 20, 2014, Walgreen Co.,
SEC Form 10-K/A Amendment No. 2 of Annual Report for period ending August 31, 2014
(amending and restating to set forth information required by Items 10,
11, 12, 13 and 14 of Part III of Form 10-K because Walgreen Co. will
not file its definitive proxy statement containing such information
within 120 days after the end of its fiscal year ended August 31,
2014) (84 pages, 926 KB, in
PDF
format)
-
November 18, 2014, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., SEC Form S-4/A Registration
Statement (Securities Registration: Business Combination), Amendment
No. 2: Preliminary Proxy Statement/Prospectus (510 pages, 4.0 MB, in
PDF format); see also
previous and related filings:
-
October
29, 2014, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., SEC Form S-4/A Registration
Statement (Securities Registration: Business Combination), Amendment
No. 1: Preliminary Proxy Statement/Prospectus (484 pages, 3.8 MB, in
PDF format)
-
September
16, 2014, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., SEC Form S-4 Registration
Statement (Securities Registration: Business Combination): Preliminary
Proxy Statement/Prospectus (471 pages, 3.7 MB, in
PDF format)
-
September 16, 2014, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., SEC Form 425
(Filing of certain prospectuses and communications in connection
with business combination transactions): Sep / Oct Walgreen
World, "Equally Great, But Better Together" (9 pages,
548 KB, in PDF format)
-
September 16, 2014,
Walgreen Co., SEC Form 8-K: Unaudited Pro Forma Consolidated
Financial Information (23 pages, 257 KB, in
PDF format)
-
November 12, 2014, Walgreen
Co., SEC Form 425
(Filing of certain prospectuses and communications in connection
with business combination transactions): Term loan and
underwriting agreements (360 pages,
1.8 MB, in PDF format)
-
November 12, 2014, Walgreen
Co., SEC Form 424B5
(Prospectus): Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
offering of Euro and GBP Notes due 2020 to 2026 (107 pages,
855 KB, in PDF format);
see also previously filed November 10, 2014, Walgreen
Co., SEC Form 424B5
(Prospectus): Preliminary Prospectus for Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
offering of Euro and GBP Notes due 2020 to 2026 (105 pages,
841 KB, in PDF format)
and related
November
10, 2014, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., SEC Form FWP
(Free Writing Prospectus): Pricing Term Sheets for Euro and GBP Notes due 2020
to 2026 (7 pages,
47 KB, in PDF format)
-
November 7, 2014, Walgreen
Co., SEC Form 424B5
(Prospectus): Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
offering of Notes due 2016 to 2044 (102 pages,
821 KB, in PDF format);
see also related November 7, 2014, Walgreen
Co., SEC Form FWP
(Free Writing Prospectus): Pricing Term Sheets for Notes due 2016
to 2044 (15 pages,
68 KB, in PDF format)
and previously filed November 6, 2014, Walgreen
Co., SEC Form 424B5
(Preliminary Prospectus): Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
offering of Notes due 2016 to 2044 (100 pages,
798 KB, in PDF format)
-
November 3, 2014, Walgreen
Co., SEC Form 425
(Filing of certain prospectuses and communications in connection
with business combination transactions): Unaudited Pro Forma
Consolidated Financial Information (19 pages,
226 KB, in PDF format)
-
November 3, 2014, Walgreen Co.,
SEC Form 10-K/A Amendment No. 1 of Annual Report for period ending August 31, 2014
(89 pages, 1.0 MB, in PDF
format); see also previously filed report:
-
November 3, 2014, Walgreen
Co., SEC Form POSASR (Post-Effective Amendment No. 1 to the
Registration Statement on Form S-3, adding Walgreens Boots Alliance,
Inc. as an additional registrant and restating the Registration
Statement) (135 pages, 839 KB, in
PDF format); for initial
filing, see
September 16, 2014, Walgreen
Co., SEC Form S-3ASR (Automatic shelf registration statement of
securities of well-known seasoned issuers) (132 pages,
833 KB, in PDF format)
-
August 6, 2014, Walgreen Co.
press release: "Walgreens Board of Directors Exercises Option to
Complete Second Step of Strategic Partnership with Alliance Boots and
Fully Combine Both Companies, Creating First Global Pharmacy-Led,
Health and Wellbeing Enterprise"; see also
August 6, 2014,
Walgreen Co. (presentation slides): "Walgreens-Alliance Boots Investor
Call" (20 pages, 626 KB, in
PDF format)
Investor & Analyst Reports
Stock Buyback Policy (see also 2016
Forum workshop for
Buyback Analysis)
- News
-
August 4, 2019
Financial Times: "Boeing and the siren call of share buybacks |
Fair-weather strategy carries risk for investors" [Example of
engineering short-term increase in EPS at expense of access to
capital needed for business viability]
-
February 5, 2019, Council of
Institutional Investors: "CII Statement on Share Buybacks"
(28 pages, 300 KB, in PDF
format) [Pension fund advocacy of buyback decisions based on
specific analyses of capital efficiency rather than public policy
issues]
-
December 11, 2018 Pensions & Investments: "SEC
chairman shares priorities in Senate oversight hearing"
[Regulatory priorities for supporting public capital investment in
the production of goods and services]
-
August 7, 2018, Matt Levine in Bloomberg: "Buying Your Way
Back to Riches" [Creating value with confused buyback
arithmetic]
-
August 7, 2018 Dow Jones MarketWatch: "Stock market to get $1
trillion boost via buybacks, says Goldman" [Pumping a trillion
dollars into the bid side of the secondary trading market]
-
July 8, 2018 Wall Street Journal: "Stock Buybacks Are
Booming, but Share Prices Aren’t Budging | Some analysts worry
companies are buying their shares at excessive valuations, while
others say cash could have gone toward capital improvements"
[Increasing questions about buyback engineering]
-
June 25, 2018 Pensions & Investments: "Wary investors
applauding SEC call to examine stock buybacks" [Investor views
of regulator's concerns about stock buybacks]
-
June 10, 2018 Wall Street Journal: "Insiders Pocket Gains on
Buybacks, Vexing Regulator" [Regulator questions executive
explanations of buyback benefits to their corporation when they sell
their own shares]
-
April 30, 2018, Matt Levine in Bloomberg View: "Companies
Want Buybacks to Be Easier" [Kitchen views of cooking buybacks]
-
November 23, 2017 Wall Street Journal: "Saying Bye to
Buybacks | Companies in the S&P 500 are on pace to spend the least
on buybacks since 2012" [Evidence of decline in corporate
buybacks of stock]
-
October 13, 2017 TheStreet: "Walmart's $20 Billion Buyback
May Be Bid to Forestall Potential Activists" [Questioning the
use of capital for stock pumping instead of adaptation to new
industry competition]
-
July 14, 2017 The New York Times | Fair Game: "Big Pharma
Spends on Share Buybacks, but R&D? Not So Much" [Increasing
attention to use of corporate capital for buybacks instead of
production of goods and services]
-
February 21, 2017 Wall Street Journal: "HSBC to Buy Back More
Shares After Net Loss Widens | Stock price falls sharply" [Bank
recognizes management's inability to compete successfully with
expanded liquidation plan]
-
February 18, 2017 New York Times | Fair Game: "Yes, Mr.
President, Banks Are Lending" [Professional capital allocators
using their own capital for financial engineering instead of
productive growth]
-
January 24, 2017 Financial Times: "Larry Fink tells US
companies to invest repatriated cash | BlackRock chief urges
executives to use planned Trump tax reforms to boost US growth"
[Largest investor's annual letter to portfolio companies reiterates
need to use corporate capital for production of goods and services]
-
November 28, 2016 TheStreet: "Elliott Urges Cognizant Debt
Hike for M&A and Share Buybacks" [Analysis of activist proposal
for competitively efficient company's "capital distribution program"]
-
October 12, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Pension Contributions
Could be Bigger Boost to EPS than Buybacks: GSAM" [Financial
engineers selling employee-friendly alternative to stock buybacks]
-
August 23, 2016 Bloomberg: "‘Earnings Hysteria’ Pits ISS
Against Clinton and Fink on CEO Pay" [Questioning "good
governance" doctrine of management "alignment" based on stock price]
-
August 12, 2016 New York Times | Fair Game: "A Simple Test to
Dispel the Illusion Behind Stock Buybacks" [Combination of logic
and facts applied to use of stock buybacks]
-
August 10, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Activist Investor Calls
on Goodyear to Boost Capital Returns | Marcato Capital calls on tire
giant to return $4.5 billion over next three years as stock
languishes" [Another example of an activist proposal for buybacks
to stimulate current stock price]
-
August 4, 2016 Reuters: "BlackRock's voting record clashes
with CEO's tough talk on buybacks" [Research of shareholder
voting shows lack of support for proxy proposals intended to
discourage stock buybacks]
-
July 14, 2016
New York Times | The Opinion Page: "How Excessive Executive Pay
Hurts Shareholders" [Concern about stock
buyback abuses addressed by editorial board as national public
interest]
-
July 12, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Buybacks Pump Up Stock
Rally | Shares outstanding in the S&P 500 have fallen this year from
year-earlier levels, on track for the first yearly decline since 2011"
[Increasing reliance on stock buybacks to prop up capital markets]
-
July 8, 2016
New York Times | Fair Game: "Investors Get Stung Twice by
Executives’ Lavish Pay Packages" [Investor
analysis of combining stock compensation and stock buybacks]
-
June 26, 2016 New York Times | Strategies, : "Buybacks by
Companies Like Apple May Signal Danger, Not Growth" [Questions
raised about ability of top users of buybacks to compete in production
of goods and services]
-
May 18, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Burberry Battles Slump
With Cost-Cutting, Share Buyback" [Another company's board
responds to competitive challenges by reducing capital available for
adaptation]
-
May 10, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Allergan Realigns
Executive Team, Outlines $10 Billion Stock Buyback | Revenue for first
quarter falls shy of expectations, though adjusted profit edges above"
[Another example of reliance on financial manipulations instead of
business performance]
-
May 3, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "The Hottest Metric in
Finance: ROIC" [Debating how to measure profits from use of
capital to produce goods and services]
-
May 2, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Financial Engineering Shows
Its Downside | Is the stock market engaged in unsustainable financial
engineering in an effort to satisfy shareholders?" [Concerns
about value created by manipulation of earnings instead of increased
profits from operations]
-
April 18, 2016
Institutional Investor: "The Risk in No-Risk Stock Buybacks |
Many companies are now struggling with falling stock shares: Do they
use buybacks to placate shareholders even at the risk of making a
lousy investment?" [Analyzing buybacks based on short term
stock price instead of returns from production of goods and services]
-
First Quarter 2016, Carl T. Hagberg editorial in The
Shareholder Service Optimizer: "Beefs on Buybacks Finally
Gain Some Traction" [Shareholder voting expert's views of
investor concerns about use of corporate capital for stock
buybacks]
-
March 29, 2016 Financial Times: "Activist hedge funds found
wanting in essential tasks | US hedge funds not fulfilling function of
making profits and helping wider investor community"
[Marketplace and political reactions to short term manipulations of
activist funds]
-
March 28, 2016 Investment News: "Stock buyback plans do
little for long-term investors | Corporate execs, activist investors
get the biggest bang from repurchase plans" [Publication for
investment advisers reports concerns about stock buybacks]
-
March 25, 2016 New York Times | Fair Game: "In Yahoo, Another
Example of the Buyback Mirage" [Increasing concerns about
illusions created by stock buybacks]; for market reactions to this
article, see
March 28, 2016, CNBC video commentary of Eric Chemi and interview of
David Nelson, Belpointe Asset Management: "Long-term, buybacks a
death warrant: Pro"
-
March 23, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Pension Accuses LPL
Financial of Fraudulently Favoring Big Shareholder | Fund alleges
brokerage firm misled investors amid share buyback that benefited
private-equity firm TPG" [Stock broker allegedly used buybacks to
pump its own stock price for insider's sale]
-
March 16, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Buybacks Aren’t What
They Used to Be | Investors aren’t rewarding companies that deploy the
biggest buybacks as much as they once did" [Indications that
stock buybacks becoming less effective in influencing stock price]
-
March 11, 2016 New York Times | Fair Game: "Stock Buyback
Plans, Seen as Shareholder Boon, Can Backfire" [Stock
manipulations that benefit sellers at expense of continuing investors]
-
March 9, 2016 CFO: "$300B Capex Lost in Recession Goes
Unreplaced | A huge dollar amount has vanished from corporate
America’s investment in capex" [Accounting professor confirms
diversion of capital for stock buybacks has reduced assets for
production of goods and services]
-
March 1, 2016, Financial Times: "Blowing the whistle on
buybacks and value destruction" with
FT Lex video: "Magic behind share buybacks" [Questioning
both the logic and the evidence of stock buyback justifications]
-
February 28, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Share Buybacks: The
Bill Is Coming Due" [Realizing that using corporate capital
for buybacks does not improve production of goods and services]
-
February 4, 2016 Dow Jones MarketWatch: "Share buyback machine
remains in overdrive and experts warn it will end badly | Companies
are draining funds with buybacks, instead of investing in growth"
[Observations of long term implications of short term buyback
practices]
-
February 1, 2016 Financial Times: "Top US financial groups hold
secret summits on long-termism" [Expanding fund manager
appreciation of need to invest in long term production of goods and
services]; see also
February 2, 2016 Bloomberg: "BlackRock Chief Urges Companies to
End Quarterly Profit Guidance" [Largest asset manager
endorses corporate policies that support use of capital for long term
production of goods and services]
-
January 21, 2016 Wall Street Journal: "Activists Beware: Huge
Investors Debut New Long-Term Index" [Developing global support
of capital allocations to long term production of goods and services]
-
December 12, 2015 Barron's: "Investor Activism Doesn’t Work
With Tech Companies | For all their sound and fury, activist
investors, in general, bring little to the table with tech stocks"
[Activism in tech sector shows negative effect on production of goods
and services]
-
November 25, 2015 New York Times | DealBook: "Pfizer Didn’t
Need an Inversion to Avoid Paying U.S. Taxes" [Use of
non-taxable funds for stock buybacks instead of the production of
goods and services]
-
November 22, 2015 Wall Street Journal: "Is the Surge in Stock
Buybacks Good or Evil?" [Increasing concern about use of
corporate capital to pump stock price and executive pay]
-
November 16, 2015 Reuters | Investigates: "How the cult of
shareholder value has reshaped corporate America | The Cannibalized
Company" [Spreading investment and political concerns about
use of capital to manage stock price instead of to produce goods and
services]
-
November 7, 2015 New York Times | Strategies: "Microsoft’s
Stock Math: Fewer Shares, Pricier Shares" [Practical use of
buybacks when capital is not needed to produce goods and services]
-
October 25, 2015 Dow Jones MarketWatch: "Opinion: Companies are
wasting money from layoffs on share buybacks" [Analyzing
investments based on fundamental business performance]
-
October 5, 2015 Wall Street Journal: "Are Activist Investors
Helping or Undermining American Companies? | Journal examines 71
campaigns at big companies, finds runaway winners, a few duds"
[Analysis shows variation in short term stock price and operating
performance following activist initiatives]
-
September 25, 2015 Reuters: "Insight - U.S. companies quicker
to give board seats to activists" [Expected increase in influence
of activist fund managers]
-
September 22, 2015 Wall Street Journal | CFO Journal: "Buybacks
Take Tumble Amid Wary Debt Investors" [Investors
question wisdom of using capital to manipulate stock price instead of
to produce goods and services]
-
September 9, 2015, Eleanor Bloxham of The Value Alliance published in
Fortune: "How companies like Bank of America are opening their
doors to hedge fund activists" [Growing concerns about
private corporate negotiations favoring some activists over other
investor interests]
-
September 1, 2015, David A. Rocker published in The
New York Times | DealBook: "A Call for a Free Market"
[Proven expert's explanation of investment value based on long term
production of goods and services]
-
April 13, 2015 New York Times | DealBook: "Stock Buybacks Draw
Scrutiny From Politicians" [Growing public and political
concerns about irresponsible use of stock buybacks]
-
July 16, 2015 MarketWatch: "Opinion: What you can do about
obscenely high executive pay" [Basing investments on corporate
managers' respect of long term shareholder interests]
-
July 7, 2015 Bloomberg: "This Chart Shows How CEOs Get Rich by
Dumping Cash on You" [Incentives of executives to support
financial engineering instead of long term business profits]
-
June 21, 2015, Charles G. Penner of JANA Partners, interview by The
Wall Street Journal: "Charles Penner Makes the Case for
Shareholder Activism | JANA executive on the successes and what some
consider to be the excesses" [Activist's explanations of
market-driven professional interests]
-
June 16, 2015 Wall Street Journal | CFO Journal: "Bond-Funded
Dividends, Buybacks Draw Skeptics" [Increasing investor
concern about use of capital for pumping stock price instead of
funding enterprise growth]
-
June 16, 2015
Institutional Investor: "As Stocks Edge Higher, Buyback
Programs Get Riskier" [Analysis of potential financial
engineering benefits of stock buybacks]
-
June 10, 2015 Bloomberg: "A Third of Caterpillar Investors
Reject Executive Pay Plan" [Shareholder opposition to
executive pay rewarding stock buybacks]
-
June 5, 2015 New York Times | Fair Game: "Stock Buybacks That
Hurt Shareholders" [Reminder that investors can stop
supporting incentives for short term manipulation of corporate capital]
-
June 2, 2015 Wall Street Journal | CFO Journal: "Citi Report:
Market Rewards Shareholder Returns Over Capex" [Financial
services provider reports that short term financial engineering
increases short term stock prices]
-
June 1, 2015 The Deal: "Why some investors dread proxy
campaigns" [Similar interests of long term equity and debt
investors threatened by short term investor pressures]
-
May 26, 2015 Wall Street Journal: "Companies Send More Cash
Back to Shareholders | Activists push for returns, fueling worries
about long-term investment" [Increasing concerns about
activist pressures to boost short term stock price at expense of
corporate and broader economic growth]
-
April 14, 2015 Financial Times: "US companies unleash share
buyback binge" [Increasing use of corporate capital to
manage stock price instead of enterprise value]
-
April 13, 2015 New York Times | DealBook: "BlackRock’s Chief,
Laurence Fink, Urges Other C.E.O.s to Stop Being So Nice to Investors"
[Fund manager's long term investment interests in corporate enterprise
value]
-
April 9, 2015 Bloomberg: "Rising Shareholder Activism Threatens
Creditors, Debt Repayment: Moody's" [Activism influence on
corporate capital access and adaptability]
-
March 27, 2015 Wall Street Journal | CFO Journal, : "Moody’s:
Shareholder Dividend Payments Hurting Bond Market"
[Implications of cash payouts and reduced corporate reinvestment for
both long term equity and debt investors]
-
March 9, 2015 Wall Street Journal: "GM Sets Buyback, Placating
Activists" [Questions raised by trading corporate enterprise
interests to appease activists]
-
March 3, 2015 Bloomberg: "American Companies Are in Love With
Themselves" [Use of corporate capital for stock buybacks in
spite of investor preference for reinvestment]
-
February 12, 2015 Wall Street Journal: "GM Frets Buyback
Would Freeze Credit Rating" [Considering whether activist
proposal of buybacks would sacrifice competitive leasing unit and
limit adaptability]
-
January 15, 2015
Institutional Investor: "U.S. Share Buybacks Rebound but Face
Sharp Criticism" [Analysis of 2014 stock buybacks by S&P 500
companies]
-
December 11, 2014 Wall Street Journal: "Houghton Shareholder
Pushes for Dividend or Share Buyback" [Another activist
demand requiring analysis of short term and long term use of corporate
capital]
-
November 18, 2014 Wall Street Journal: "Zoetis Unveils $500
Million Stock Buyback Plan" [Use of corporate capital for
activist defense]
-
November 12, 2014 New
York Times | DealBook: "Dow Chemical to Raise Dividend and
Increase Stock Buybacks" [Use of stock buybacks to appease
short-term investors]; see also subsequent
November 13, 2014 New York Times | DealBook: "Loeb Attacks Dow
Chemical After Talks Over Board Seats Break Down"
[Appeasement strategy has usual result]
-
October 29, 2014 Wall Street Journal MoneyBeat: "Activist
Investors Are Selling Faster" [Advisor's study of
professional opportunities created by increased activism]
-
October 28, 2014 Los Angeles Times: "Amgen, bowing to hedge
fund pressure, to cut up to 1,100 more jobs" [Appeasing short
term activist interests raises questions about management
responsibility]
-
October 27, 2014 Wall Street Journal: "Buybacks Can Juice
Per-Share Profit, Pad Executive Pay" [Financial management view
of short term and long term effects of stock buybacks]
-
October 24, 2014 New York Times (editorial): "Carl Icahn’s Bad
Advice" [Increasing public concern about activist pressures to
use corporate capital for short term stock manipulation]
-
October 22, 2014 Washington Post
(editorial): "IBM's big blues" [Public
view of financial engineering alternative to enterprise growth]
-
October 20, 2014 New York Times DealBook: "The Truth Hidden
by IBM’s Buybacks" [Buying short term stock price at expense
of long term enterprise value]
-
October 12, 2014
Financial Times: "Buybacks: Money well spent?"
[Analyzing activist proposals of buybacks in context of long term
enterprise value]
-
October 8, 2014
Financial Times: "Capital Group raps activists
for pushing share buybacks" [Expanding concern about proposals
to pump stock price at expense of long term enterprise value]
-
September 21, 2014 Financial Times:
"The short-sighted US buyback boom" [Incentives to pump
stock instead of generate long term enterprise value]
-
September 19, 2014 Institutional Investor: "Share Buybacks Slow
as Scrutiny Rises" [Analyst and corporate finance views of stock
buyback policies]
-
September 13,
2014 The Economist: "Share buy-backs | The repurchase
revolution" [Concerns about long term costs of stock
buybacks]
-
March 25, 2014
Wall Street Journal: "BlackRock's Fink Sounds
the Alert" [World's largest investment fiduciary supports
long term value objectives]
-
February 10, 2014
New York Times DealBook: "New York City
Comptroller Resists Investor’s Calls for Apple Buyback" [Investor
support of capital allocations based on long term enterprise success]
-
January 21, 2014 Wall Street Journal: "Does IBM Love or Hate Itself?
| Stock Buybacks Make Firms Look Attractive, but Also Deprive Them
of Capital for Real Investment" [Questions raised about long
term investor value of favored activist proposal]
-
August 24, 2009 Wall Street Journal: "Valeant CEO's Pay
Package Draws Praise as a Model" [Example of "good
governance" principles of compensation intended to assure
management development of long term value]
-
November 12, 2006
The New York Times | Your Money: "Why Buybacks Aren’t Always
Good News" [Questions raised (again) about use of stock
buybacks to benefit executives]
-
January 18, 2004 New York Times | Market Watch: "Buybacks
Aren't Always a Good Thing" [Questions raised about use of
stock buybacks to benefit executives]
-
Research
-
Third Quarter 2022, Alexandra Reed Lajoux published in Directors
and Boards: "Defying Critics and Curbs, Buybacks Persist: Should
Executives Benefit From Them?" [Update of evolving professional
views guiding board consideration of stock buybacks]
-
August 8, 2019 Bloomberg Businessweek: "Companies Use Borrowed
Billions to Buy Back Stock, Not to Invest | The long-standing
relationship between corporate debt and capital expenditures has
broken down" [More studies raising questions about both
corporate and macroeconomic effects of stock buybacks]
-
May 24, 2019, Jurrien Timmer
of Fidelity Investments: "Both Sides of the Buyback Debate"
(8 pages,
243 KB, in
PDF format) [Benefits
of stock buybacks to investors concerned with quarterly NAV
performance]
-
October 11, 2018, James F. Reda of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. posting
on The Conference Board Governance Center Blog: "Stock Buybacks
– A Recent Trend That May Change Executive Compensation Pay Practices"
[Compensation expert's analysis of management incentives created by
stock buyback policies]
-
August 2018, Ric Marshall, Panos Seretis and Agnes Grunfeld of MSCI
Inc.: "Taking Stock | Share Buybacks and Shareholder Value"
(29 pages,
749 KB, in
PDF format)
[Correlation of stock buybacks to MSCI proprietary "ESG" ratings]
-
July 1, 2018, Michael J. Mauboussin of
BlueMountain Capital Management and Alfred Rappaport of Northwestern
University, published in Harvard
Business Review: "Reclaiming the Idea
of Shareholder Value"
[Applying simple logic to investments in the production of goods and
services]
-
July 2018, James F.
Reda of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., published in the July/August 2018
issue of The Corporate Governance
Advisor: "Executive Compensation
and Stock Buybacks: The Pros and the Cons"
[Designing incentives for managing a business enterprise instead of
for financial engineering]
-
June 11, 2018, Commissioner Robert J. Jackson, Jr., of the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission, speech at the Center for American
Progress: "Stock Buybacks and Corporate Cashouts"
[Research and data supporting regulator's concerns about misuse of
stock buybacks]
-
July 13, 2017, William Lazonick of the University of Massachusetts
with Matt Hopkins, Ken Jacobson, Mustafa Erdem Sakinç and Öner Tulum
of The Academic-Industry Research Network (theAIRnet): "US Pharma’s
Financialized Business Model" (29 pages, 914 KB, in
PDF format) [Academic
analysis of US pharmaceutical companies supporting view that executive
compensation based on "maximizing shareholder value” encourages use of
capital for stock buybacks to manipulate short-term market pricing
instead of development of new products]
-
July 11, 2017, Robert Ayres and Michael Olenick of INSEAD: "Secular
Stagnation (Or Corporate Suicide?)" (22 pages, 266 KB, in
PDF format) [Academic
analysis of US companies concluding that "excessive buybacks in the
past decades are a significant cause of secular stagnation, inasmuch
as they effectively reduce corporate R&D while contributing, instead,
to an asset bubble that creates no value"]
-
May 5, 2017, Gregory V. Milano and Joseph Theriault of Fortuna
Advisors LLC commentary in CFO.com: "How to Tell Good
Buybacks from Bad Ones" [Corporate advisors encourage stock
buyback decisions based on rational projections of future share
prices]
-
January 8, 2017, Jesse M. Fried of Harvard Law School and Charles C.Y.
Wang of Harvard Business School: "Short-Termism and Shareholder
Payouts: Getting Corporate Capital Flows Right" (36 pages, 737 KB,
in PDF format); for the
authors' summary of the paper, see
January 12, 2017, Jesse M. Fried of Harvard Law School and Charles
C.Y. Wang of Harvard Business School posting in The Harvard Law
School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation:
"Short-Termism and Shareholder Payouts: Getting Corporate Capital
Flows Right" [Academic study establishes need for case-specific
analysis of capital needed to support production of goods and
services]
-
December 8, 2016, Martin Lipton of Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
posting in The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
and Financial Regulation: "Some Thoughts for Boards of Directors
in 2017" [Defender of noncompetitive managers pivots to promote
services supporting efficient business competition]
-
November 2016, UAW Retiree
Medical Benefits Trust: "Bridging the Disclosure Gap | An Engagement
Guide Based on Findings from the Share Buybacks Disclosure
Initiative"
(16 pages, 898 KB, in
PDF format)
[Recommendations of a "coalition of 11 institutional investors" led
by trust for union retirees to establish corporate reporting of
buyback practices]
-
August 11, 2016, Yardeni
Research, Inc.: "Stock Market Indicators: S&P 500 Buybacks &
Dividends" (11 pages, 175 KB, in
PDF format) [Statistics
of S&P 500 distributions of capital since 1999]
-
August 2016, The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute
("IRRCi") and Tapestry Networks: "Buybacks and the Board: Director
Perspectives on the Share Repurchase Revolution" (44 pages, 1.1
MB, in PDF format); for a
summary of the report, see
August 22, 2016, The Investor Responsibility Research Center
Institute (IRRCi): "Corporate Directors Identify Four Key Reasons
For Stock Buyback Programs" [Survey explaining accepted wisdom
of using corporate capital for buybacks instead of reinvestment]
-
June 23. 2016, FactSet
Research Systems Inc.: "FactSet Buyback Quarterly" (16 pages, 1.4
MB, in
PDF format) [Current
trends in corporate stock buyback activity]; see also subsequent
-
June 2016, EY Center for Board Matters of Ernst & Young LLP: "Buybacks
vs. backlash | The board’s role in weighing the pros and cons of stock
repurchases" (2 pages, 124 KB, in
PDF format) [Evolving
conventional views of board responsibility for use of corporate
capital]
-
April 15, 2016 IR Magazine: "Buybacks: why buy-siders and
sell-siders disagree" [Survey comparing buy-side and sell-side
analyst views of stock buybacks]
-
April 2016, Obi Ezekoye, Tim Koller, and Ankit Mittal of McKinsey &
Company: "How share repurchases boost earnings without improving
returns" [Thorough expert explanation of simple logic that
reinvestment generates more long term earnings than buybacks]
-
March 24, 2016, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP posting in The Harvard
Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation:
"Activist Investors, Cash, and Capital Allocation" [Auditor
advice for corporate and shareholder consideration of buyback and
dividend distributions]; for the client presentation version of the
article with an appendix of analysis checklists, see
March 2016, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Director-Shareholder
Insights: "Is cash burning a hole in your pocket? | Thinking
through share repurchases and dividends" (6 pages, 539 KB, in
PDF format)
-
March 2016, Pensions and
Investment Research Consultants Limited (PIRC): "PIRC 2016 Policy
Position: Share Buybacks" (18 pages, 717 KB, in
PDF format) [Proxy
advisor's analysis of issues to be considered for buybacks subject to
UK company law and regulations]
-
February 8, 2016, Mathias Kronlund of the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign posting in The Harvard Law School Forum on
Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation: "The Real
Effects of Share Repurchases" [Economists establish
evidence of buyback use to manipulate current EPS at expense of
business growth]; for the full paper summarized in the article,
see
June 2013, Heitor Almeida of the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign and the National Bureau of Economic Research,
Vyacheslav Fos of Boston College, and Mathias Kronlund of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: "The Real Effects of
Share Repurchases" (58 pages, 539 KB, in
PDF format)
-
January 26, 2016, Ira T. Kay of Pay Governance LLC posting in
The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial
Regulation: "Executive Pay, Share Buybacks, and Managerial
Short-Termism" [Compensation adviser's analysis of buyback
correlation to performance, measured by stock price]; for original
publication, see
January 13, 2016, Ira Kay, Blaine Martin, and Chris Brindisi of
Pay Governance LLC: "Myths and Realities: Assessing the True
Relationship Between Executive Pay, Share Buybacks, and Managerial
Short-Termism" (6 pages, 551 KB, in
PDF format)
-
October 19, 2015 S&P Capital IQ | Global Markets Intelligence: "Sector
Disruptors: Buybacks and Dividends" (20 pages, 443 KB, in
PDF format) [Analysis
of trends in stock repurchases and dividend payouts in different
industry sectors]
-
September 11, 2015 New York Times | Fair Game: "Safety Suffers
as Stock Options Propel Executive Pay Packages" [Research of
executive incentives based on short term stock price instead of long
term production of goods and services]
-
May 28, 2015, Andrew Smithers column and video in Financial Times:
"Executive pay holds the key to the productivity puzzle"
[Economist's view of incentives rewarding short term stock price
instead of long term productivity]
-
November 5, 2014, Andrew Smithers column in Financial Times:
"Buybacks and the parallel universe of bankers" [Fund manager's
economic analysis of buyback benefits]
-
November 4, 2014, Alberto Manconi of Tilburg University, Urs Peyer of
INSEAD and Theo Vermaelen of INSEAD posting in The Harvard Law
School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation:
"Buybacks Around the World" [Academic analysis of global buyback
returns defining "long term" as 3 to 4 years]; for full paper, see
August 2014, Alberto Manconi of Tilburg University, Urs Peyer of
INSEAD and Theo Vermaelen of
INSEAD: "Buybacks Around the World" (72 pages,
1.1 MB, in
PDF format)
-
September 3, 2014, Jonathan
Glionna and Eric Slover of Barclays Capital, Inc.: "U.S. Equity
Strategy | Trading growth for buybacks" (18 pages,
260 KB, in
PDF format)
[Macroeconomic analysis of stock buyback policies]
-
September 2014, William Lazonick of University of Massachusetts,
published in
Harvard Business Review: "Profits Without Prosperity"
[Economist view of stock buybacks as alternative to investment in
business development]
-
May 6, 2014, Daniel
Callahan and Michael J. Mauboussin of Credit Suisse: "Disbursing
Cash to Shareholders | Frequently Asked Questions about Buybacks
and Dividends" (21 pages,
460 KB, in
PDF format)
[Instructive guide to investment and corporate finance analysis of
stock buybacks]; see also subsequent articles by these authors
refining their views:
-
April 2013, Sheng
Huang of Singapore Management University and Anjan V. Thakor of
Washington University, published by the European Corporate
Governance Institute (ECGI): "Investor Heterogeneity,
Investor-Management Disagreement, and Share Repurchases" (64 pages,
654 KB, in
PDF format)
[Analysis of stock buybacks as means of appeasing dissident
shareholders]
-
June 3, 2011, Gregory V. Milano of Fortuna Advisors LLC
in CFO.com: "What’s Your Return on Buybacks? | Managements
may be biased in favor of their own companies' valuation"
[Analysis of widespread failures of stock buybacks to improve
total return to shareholders]
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