Learn · Explainer
Share buybacks
What happens when a company buys back its own stock, where to find it in a filing, and why the share count doesn't always fall.
The short answer
A share buyback (or repurchase) is a company buying its own stock, usually on the open market. The shares it buys stop counting as outstanding, so each remaining share is a slightly bigger slice of the company. Apple spent $90.7B on buybacks in fiscal 2025, and its diluted share count fell from 15.81B in fiscal 2023 to 15.00B.
How a buyback works
The board approves a repurchase program, usually as a total dollar amount with no fixed end date, and announces it in a press release or an 8-K. The company then buys shares over months or years, mostly through brokers on the open market. A few other routes exist: an accelerated share repurchase (a bank delivers the shares up front and the price is settled later), a tender offer to all shareholders at a set price, or a direct purchase from a large holder.
Bought-back shares are either cancelled or held as "treasury stock". Either way they no longer get dividends or votes, and they drop out of the share count used for earnings per share.
Where to find buybacks in a filing
- Cash flow statement: the cash spent, in the financing section, usually as "repurchases of common stock".
- Item 5 of the 10-K and Part II, Item 2 of the 10-Q: a table of shares bought each month of the last quarter, the average price paid, and how much of the program is left.
- Equity note and statement of shareholders' equity: the share counts before and after.
Buybacks and dividends
Buybacks and dividends are the two ways companies hand cash back to shareholders. A dividend pays every holder in cash; a buyback pays only those who sell, and raises the stake of everyone who doesn't. Apple spent $90.7B buying back shares in fiscal 2025, against $15.4B paid in dividends.
Source: Apple 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Oct 31, 2025
What happens to the share count
Buying back stock lowers the share count only if the company buys more shares than it issues. Companies issue shares all the time, mostly to employees through stock awards and options, so part of most buyback programs just offsets that.
When buybacks are large relative to the company, the drop is big. General Motors spent $6.0B on buybacks in fiscal 2025, and its diluted share count fell 28.9% in two years, from 1.37B to 973M.
The count can also rise despite buybacks, when a company pays for an acquisition with its own shares. Capital One spent $4.1B on buybacks in fiscal 2025, but its diluted share count rose from 383M to 541M over two years, after it bought Discover Financial in an all-stock deal. In the table below, 16 of the 78 companies had more diluted shares at the end of the two years than at the start.
Source: General Motors 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Jan 27, 2026 · Capital One 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Feb 19, 2026
Why buybacks matter for EPS
With fewer shares, the same net income is spread over a smaller count, so EPS grows faster than profit. Earnings per share, basic and diluted shows this with Apple's figures. The reverse also holds: a company can grow its profit without growing EPS if its share count rises at the same pace.
A buyback isn't good or bad in itself. What it does to each remaining share depends on the price paid and what else the cash could have done, and readers and companies disagree about both.
Buybacks and share counts for 78 companies
From each company's latest 10-K: cash spent repurchasing common stock in the fiscal year (cash flow statement), and the weighted average diluted share count for that year and two years before. Sorted by the change in share count. Companies that don't report buyback spending in this form, or didn't buy back stock, aren't listed.
Common questions
What is a stock buyback?
A company buying its own shares, usually on the open market. The shares it buys back no longer count as outstanding, so each remaining share represents a slightly larger part of the company.
Why do companies buy back shares?
Companies give several reasons in their filings: returning cash to shareholders, offsetting the shares they issue to employees, and a view that the shares are a good use of cash at the price. Buybacks are also easier to scale up or down than a dividend.
Do buybacks raise EPS?
They lower the share count, so the same net income produces a higher EPS. Apple's diluted share count fell from 15.81B in fiscal 2023 to 15.00B in fiscal 2025 while it spent heavily on buybacks. Source: Apple 10-K for fiscal 2025.
Where do I see how much a company spent on buybacks?
In the financing section of the cash flow statement, and in the monthly repurchase table in Item 5 of the 10-K or Part II, Item 2 of each 10-Q, which also shows the average price paid.
Can a company's share count go up even with buybacks?
Yes, when it issues more shares than it buys, for example through stock pay or an acquisition paid in shares. Capital One's diluted share count rose from 383M to 541M over two years despite $4.1B of buybacks in fiscal 2025. Source: Capital One 10-K for fiscal 2025.
Disclosures
- Editor holdings
- The editor holds no position in any company named on this page. As of Oct 25, 2026.
- Compensation
- Nobody paid for this page. No affiliate links on this page.
- Sources
- Each company's own SEC filings, linked next to each number.
- Last updated
- Oct 26, 2026
General education, the same for every reader. Not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security, and it doesn't consider your situation.
More in Learn and Tools · Methodology & Disclosures explains where every number comes from.