But its not a guarantee of "receiving" any thing the company makes vague promises which may or may not actually result in a gain to me, its also ignoring the time value of money.

There are I think better and more transparent ways of returning $ to investors.

> But its not a guarantee of "receiving" any thing the company makes vague promises which may or may not actually result in a gain to me, its also ignoring the time value of money.

I think you are confused. A buyback returns money to shareholders because the company has literally purchased the shares in exchange for money. Any other effects of a stock buyback are secondary. There's nothing vague about the promises, you're guaranteed to receive the money, and there's nothing to ignore with regard to the time value of money, because the shareholders immediately get money. Unless they decided not to sell, in which case, who cares? If they thought they would be better off taking the money they would have sold.

No as a shareholder in a buy back I don't get the money directly to me (like I would with a special dividend) - I may or may not get a capital increase which is not the same thing.

Your confusing a tender offer at over par with a generic buyback.