Buyback activity ramped up this week at the start of earnings season with 35 companies announcing buybacks this week. The company that topped the list is Olin Corporation (OLN), manufacturer and worldwide distributor of chemical products. On July 28, 2022, Olin announced a new $2 billion buyback announcement representing around 27% of its market cap at announcement. A total of 14 companies including OLN announced buybacks that crossed the $1 billion mark.
The energy giants, Shell Plc (SHEL), Chevron (CVX) and TotalEnergies (TTE), announced $6 billion, $5 billion and $2 billion buybacks each representing around 3.2%, 1.56% and 1.58% of their market caps at announcement respectively. Airbnb (ABNB) and Diamondback Energy (FANG) also announced huge buybacks of $2 billion each. The biggest buyback in terms of dollar terms was by Charles Schwab (SCHW), a $15 billion buyback representing around 13% of its market cap at announcement.