From Tomi Kilgore at marketwatch.com:
Hewlett-Packard, Target and Schlumberger announced the biggest layoffs this year, while buying back large amounts of stock
How would you feel if the company that just laid you off said it was spending millions of dollars, or even billions, to buy back its stock?
At least you wouldn’t feel lonely.
U.S. companies announced 205,759 job cuts during the third quarter, the most since the third quarter of 2009, just after the Great Recession, according to data provided by outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. In September, the number of announced job cuts was nearly double what it was at the same time last year.
On Friday, the Labor Department released a stinker of a September jobs report.
At the same time, share repurchases announced by U.S. companies during the third quarter remains around the highest levels in at least the last decade, according to data provider Dealogic Ltd. In September, companies authorized buybacks totaling $243.4 billion, more than seven times the amount announced in the same month a year ago, Dealogic said.
One might think these corporate actions are mutually exclusive, but as the chart above shows, many companies are doing both. In fact, some companies have even announced job cuts and share buybacks in the same news release.
To continue reading: Cutting jobs and buying back stock at the same time
