That is just completely wrong and displays ignorance of the basics of how capital markets work. Investors want to maximize their risk-adjusted rate of return. Even if a corporation still has some potential growth opportunities, investors may prefer to get their capital back so that they can invest in other more profitable ventures and they will exercise their votes accordingly.

And if you're certain that "management doesn't have it" and can convince enough other investors to provide funding then you can take over the entire company and run it as you see fit. Activist investors like Pershing Square Capital Management do this all the time, and despite some high profile failures on average they are very successful.

And there is fundamentally no major difference between paying dividends versus stock buybacks, just a matter of tax efficiency. It's sad to see people (who likely aren't even shareholders) complaining about buybacks without understanding that.

If investors want to prefer to get capital back, they should sell stock.

> just a matter of tax efficiency

Yes, and that shouldn't be how it works. Its basically tax evasion.

> It's sad to see people (who likely aren't even shareholders) complaining about buybacks without understanding that.

Understanding it isn't the issue, its just different having different values.

> That is just completely wrong and displays ignorance of the basics of how capital markets work. Investors want to maximize their risk-adjusted rate of return. Even if a corporation still has some potential growth opportunities, investors may prefer to get their capital back so that they can invest in other more profitable ventures and they will exercise their votes accordingly.

It's hilarious how you put these two sentences together completely ignoring the possibility of selling you shares on the open market if you "prefer to get your capital back". That's a real display of ignorance.

It's sad to see the level of aggressive ignorance on HN sometimes. Many investors prefer to have the capital returned through stock buybacks and/or dividends than sitting in a corporate treasury where it can potentially be squandered. The fact that investors can also sell their shares is irrelevant.