High dividends cannot be destroyed by any negative events in the...

High dividends cannot be destroyed by any negative events in the future, so they greatly reduce an investors capital exposure as they have more of their capital back in their hands. buybacks at all time highs in terms of commodity price and share price is really quite stupid. at least cash would add constant value to the share price that cannot be destroyed by negative future events. they should pay high dividends or hoard cash.

A cynic would say that the reason that buybacks are chosen in Australia, is that it pumps up the value of employee options that have already been issued but not yet vested whereas dividends don't pump employee incentives. I'm cynical but then again, I've worked inside public listed companies for years.