When Wimps Rule the Earth: The Blessed Relief of Stock Buybacks Tom Peters/11.04.2005

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When Wimps Rule the Earth The Blessed Relief of
Stock BuybacksTom Peters/11.04.2005
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1103.2005/Headline/USA Today Time Warner
Announces 80 Higher Earnings Company Raises
Stock Buyback Goal TP When a so-so companys
stock is in the tank and shareholders are
restless and unimpressed with short-term earnings
boosts and when the company has cash on hand and
when the company has utterly no idea how to
invest the cash in anything exciting that will
offer a great return that will lift the share
price it can buy back a big hunk of its stock
which not only lifts the share price but also
relieves the company of the crushing burden of
having to worry about doing anything imaginative
with the money and it also puts wealth in the
hands of shareholders who following the precepts
of portfolio theory can quit worrying for awhile
about the hapless, unimaginative leadership of
the buyback company and instead invest the
newfound wealth in a firm such as Google or Amgen
which always is in need of cash to fund a long
list of very cool ideas which probably will
result in the creation of can you believe it
actual underlying and perhaps even sustainable
value.