4 Big Tech giants have plowed over $1 trillion into stock buybacks in 10 years — more than Tesla or Meta’s entire market value::Apple poured over $600 billion into buybacks in the decade to March 31, exceeding Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta’s combined spending.
It’s the same thing.
It’s not because they announce it way ahead of time. Manipulation would be Apple buying a bunch of stock right before they announce the new iPhone, then selling after the announcement. That’s very illegal.
Giving money to existing shareholders is completely legal (as long as you give it equally per share) because it’s the shareholders’ money. They own the company.