Companies are preparing to launch a record wave of share buybacks as executives get comfortable with spending excess cash following a blockbuster earnings season and greater clarity on the trajectory of the world economy.

US companies announced $484bn in share buybacks in the first four months of this year, the highest such total in at least two decades, according to Goldman Sachs.

Source: Companies prepare share buyback bonanza as profits surge | Financial Times

Northern Comment – Are share buybacks not management saying we have more cash than we know what to do with. Our entrepreneurial flare has run out and we need to give cash back to investors so they can allocate it more efficiently? If this is the case why would they do it when share prices are increasing or does the price have no impact in the sense that the scale of the cash released is the issue for better investment decisions.

I wonder what impact all this might have on senior management earnings and whether all the companies engaged in this have fully funded pension schemes.

Is the principle / agent problem now one where the interests of both are aligned but aligned against the interests of the company?