Stock repurchases Stock repurchases occur when a company buys its outstanding stock which is often referred to as treasury stock and is reported as a negative value on the company's balance sheet. Consider this situation: Suppose a firm finds itself as the target of a possible hostile takeover. An outside investor has acquired a major stake of shares and is threatening to exert influence on the board. If the firm wants to influence the hostile bidder to leave it alone, which of the following methods could be an effective way of doing so? Auction Open-market transaction Targeted stock repurchase Tender offer In general, are stock repurchases a substitute for the firm paying dividends? In other words, will a firm either pay a dividend or repurchase shares, but never both? Yes No In a taxless world with no brokerage costs, repurchases and dividends have the same effect on shareholder wealth. In the real world, however, repurchases provide more preferable tax treatment than dividends to ordinary investors. Does this mean that firms should always use share repurchases so that investors can gain from this tax benefit? Yes No