Big Tech buybacks plunge 90% from their 2021 peak, slowest since 2017

Big Tech's favorite way of handing cash back to shareholders just hit the brakes. Combined stock buybacks across Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Oracle fell to $4.4 billion in Q3 2026, according to @KobeissiLetter — the lowest quarterly total since Q3 2017.

That's a 90% collapse from the roughly $45.9 billion peak these companies logged in Q4 2021. It also marks the third consecutive quarter where the group's repurchases stayed below $5 billion, a level they used to blow past without blinking.

The retreat is starkest at the individual level. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Oracle have not bought back a single share in 2026, the post says. Microsoft is the one name in the group not listed as sitting out entirely.

The speed of the shift is what stands out. As recently as Q1 2026, these same five companies spent a combined $33.0 billion repurchasing their own stock. Two quarters later, that figure had shrunk to a fraction of the total.

The explanation, per the outlet, is AI. Massive infrastructure and compute budgets are now absorbing the cash that once flowed into share repurchases — a trade-off that is reshaping how the biggest names in tech return capital.