It shouldn't have stopped them from maintenance though; they just didn't feel like doing maintenance. If a company wants to spend money on something they can always get a loan for it and consider issuing the shares out again later if needed.
The problem with a share buyback is if you do it and then the share price falls again.
>The problem with a share buyback is if you do it and then the share price falls again.
how's that a problem? I get it might seem like you're back to square one if you did a buyback early this year, and the recent market crash brought the share price to before the buyback, but you still permanently:
1. paid out money to the shareholders who sold
2. increased the ownership stake of the remaining shareholders
If it falls again, it's not value neutral anymore - it's a transfer to whoever sold. So then the complaint that you could've used the money on maintenance against poisoning babies becomes true.
The problem with a share buyback is if you do it and then the share price falls again.