buyback

noun

buy·​back ˈbī-ˌbak How to pronounce buyback (audio)
: the act or an instance of buying something back
In Boston and other cities, gun buyback programs dramatically call attention to the profusion of firearms among the young …Diane Weathers
Talks of a potential buyback come as Volkswagen and federal regulators discuss ways to bring the more than half-million affected Volkswagen cars in the US up to current emissions standards.Bryan Logan
especially : the repurchase by a corporation of shares of its own common stock usually on the open market
Most corporate buybacks involve a repurchase by a company of part of its outstanding common stock at a fixed price, which is normally sufficiently higher than the market price to attract the desired number of shares. Leonard Sloane
This stock buyback boom, while obscure to much of the public, has become one of the most pervasive and divisive practices in corporate America. Michael Kranish

Examples of buyback in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The firm also spent $1.1 billion on buybacks in the period, bringing the total for the first nine months of the year to about $7 billion. Max Reyes, Fortune, 4 Nov. 2023 The companies have spent billions on stock buybacks, and C.E.O. pay has gone up by forty per cent; Mary Barra, the C.E.O. of G.M., earned twenty-nine million dollars last year. Dan Kaufman, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2023 Critics have slammed oil companies for spending tens of billions of dollars on stock buybacks rather than easing the pain for consumers at the pump or investing more heavily in the energy transition. David Goldman, CNN, 23 Oct. 2023 The three have been generous in passing profits on to shareholders through stock buybacks. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2023 Lowe’s, which has become something of a bête noire on the IPS’s annual report, topped all-comers with respect to stock buybacks. Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 6 Oct. 2023 The maker of Tuborg beer maintained its full-year profit target of 4% to 7%, while also announcing a DKK 1 billion–share buyback program. Byprarthana Prakash, Fortune, 31 Oct. 2023 Ford made buybacks of nearly $500 million and paid dividends of about $2 billion last year, and Stellantis paid out about $4.36 billion to shareholders last year and has announced a $1.6-billion buyback program for this year. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2023 The company also expects to increase stock buybacks by $2.5 billion to the top end of its guidance range of $20 billion per year once the transaction closes. Michelle Chapman, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Oct. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'buyback.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1954, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of buyback was in 1954

Dictionary Entries Near buyback

Cite this Entry

“Buyback.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buyback. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.

Legal Definition

buyback

noun
buy·​back ˈbī-ˌbak How to pronounce buyback (audio)
: an act or instance of buying something back
especially : the repurchase by a corporation of shares of its own common stock on the open market
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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