No. I actually did a breakdown of the pros and cons of buy backs for someone a couple days ago so I’ll copy paste it here. Some of it was geared toward that conversation so you may lack some of that context. Additionally, I’m on mobile so I apologize for any strange formatting.

Buy backs exist for many reasons, but the primary reason is to return shareholder value. It gets a bit more complicated that though.

Here are a few pros.

Flexibility - As opposed to dividends, which shareholders may expect, companies can buyback stock as needed based on their financial needs and goals. This also give shareholders more flexibility certain shareholders can "cash in", but others may want to hold on to their shares if they think the value will rise. Signaling - This is the idea that a buyback is simply a signal to shareholders that they company thinks their stock is undervalued. From an accounting standpoint, when a company buys back shares they are placed in a contra-equity account. The company will then likely re-issue these shares at a later date when they feel the stock price is at the right level. FYI, this is reason that was most discussed in my accounting courses. Capital Recirculation - Returning cash to shareholders via a buyback allows them to invest in other up and coming businesses. Tax Advantages - This will vary by jurisdiction. Long term capital gains are taxed at preferential rates, while dividends may or may not be taxed at those rates depending whether they are qualified dividends. And here are the cons:

Financial Ratio Manipulation - If executive management has certain EPS goals that are falling short they may perform a buyback artificially reach that objective. To break this down a little bit, if income is falling short of their objective then they may buy back stock to decrease the denominator in the EPS calculation. This is deceptive in my opinion and should be properly disclosed to financial statement users. Insider trading - Honestly, this one is true whether or not buybacks are illegal. As an example, insiders can buy stock in their company shortly before a new product is announced. All buybacks do is change the beneficiary of the insider trade from an individual to the business. Just so we're clear, I believe people who engage in insider trading should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Contribution to Income Inequality - You've already little tapped on this above. However, it's worth noting that evidence on this is mixed and should be evaluated in a case by case basis. Poor Timing - this is just the inverse of the Signaling pro above. Basically, management mistimes the market and buys at a peak rather than a trough. This can happen in all investing though and is why investments carry an inherent risk. Leverage - This is essentially the Weighted Average Cost of Capital, which is complex and I haven't worked with in awhile so I don't want to get into it at the moment lest I say something inaccurate. In summary, buybacks are neither magic bullets to increase a company’s earnings per share nor a nefarious means of enriching executives or shareholders. Buybacks are simply a financial tool.