Stock buybacks used to be illegal, but when Reagan became president, the SEC began allowing them. They were considered market manipulation up to that point.
Now, over 94% of company profits are used for stock buybacks and dividends. These profits used to be shared with workers in the form of bonuses, pay raises, and re-investment in the business.
From the link above:
in 2015, Verizon bought back $5 billion in stock—and then told striking CWA members just a year later that the company couldn’t afford to provide pay increases, improved health care or better job security. If Verizon had instead spent that $5 billion on workers, every Verizon employee could have received $28,000.
Company profits are the result of employee's hard work. Not investors. It seems like straightforward theft for companies not to be sharing profits directly with the employees who created that profit doesn't it?