What I find peculiar is how often buy-backs are done towards the upper end of a booming market and stopped completely if there is a turn-down in the economy when the shares would usually be expected to fall. It's not unusual for a company that has been buying back shares at the top of the market to do a rights issue after a market crash - i.e. buying high and selling low,thus destroying shareholder value. This is precisely the opposite of what good management should be doing.