Not really. I have personal savings that helped me a lot this year.

If you want to see what happens when the treasury is empty, just look at how hard it was for Tesla to survive the Model 3 launch: they were heavily shorted, and oil companies attacked Tesla on every front they could to destroy it.

Now that Tesla has enough treasury to survive a stock crash (and a little bit profitable), shorts went away.

Btw MicroStrategy was attacked the same way and its stock crashed by 95% in the past.

Also just look at 2020 how many businesses that didn't have treasury went bankrupt.

>Business should either invest the money for growth, or release the money to investors to do as they please.

Businesses should increase shareholder value. How they get there is up to them.

You opinion on how that should be achieved is one of many possible strategies and very much your own opinion.

When you value the company. One the things investors do, is discount cash or cash like equivalents from the value of the company anyway. What's left is genuine value.

Which is one methodology out of very many.

The fact that one is being taught how to do something in school doesn't mean it's the only way.

A lot of companies have very large cash reserves (ex: Apple). Should these companies distribute this cash to investors?

Doesn’t Apple pay a dividend? They also use it to buyback shares, which is essentially the same.

Token foreigner here: I prefer buybacks. Dividends have all kinds of messy tax implications. Cap gains don’t!

e.g.: Most countries tax foreign dividends at full income tax rates. 15-30% IRS withholding taxes on dividends.