17-2WW Stock repurchase plans, as discussed in this chapter, have become a rather common financial policy activity within corporate America. IBM is one well-known firm that has had a long history of a vigorous repurchase program. You can review management's discussion of the IBM repurchase plan at www.ffilVl.com and find the firms' annual report for 2002. Page 55 of that report will give you details, for example, on how much IBM spent on corrunon stock repurchases in the 2002 fourth quarter, and how many fewer shares were left outstanding over the year due to the repurchase program.