Share buybacks globally rose to a new record in 2025, with companies repurchasing US$1.46 trillion of their own shares, up 8.4%, increasing US$113 billion year on year, according to a recent study.

Over the past decade, share buybacks have become increasingly prevalent across global equity markets, finds the annual Buyback Watch, part of the Capital Group Global Equity Study, which also finds that while practices vary by region and sector, 52% of companies in the group’s index repurchased shares in 2025, up from 36% in 2015.

In the same period, buyback activity rose in value by 123%, the study notes, exceeding dividend growth of 98%. Globally, the value of buybacks totalled 75% of dividends paid, but major differences in corporate culture and each country’s sector mix mean the range is from 147% in the US to 13% in Australia.

Regions

In 2025, the US accounted for 71% of global share buybacks, the study notes, with growth of 8.5%, broadly in line with the global average.

European share buybacks totalled just one ninth ( 10.8% ) of the global 2025 total, although they have become a more important part of total shareholder distributions in recent years.

In Japan, buybacks are also becoming a key feature, with almost half ( 48% ) of the Japanese companies in the index buying back shares in 2025, up from less than one-quarter a decade ago.

Among major markets, the fastest growth, the study points out, was in Canada ( 67.9% ), the Netherlands ( 53.5% ), France ( 44.4% ), Singapore ( 62.3% ) and Japan ( 15.3% ). Buybacks were flat or down in Germany ( 2.0% ), the UK ( 1.4% ), Australia ( -17.5% ) and China ( -34.5% ).

In Singapore, share buybacks reached US$1.5 billion in 2025, representing a 62.3% year-on-year increase. The growth was driven primarily by the banking sector – which has also been a key contributor to record dividends in Singapore in 2025. Overall, Singapore recorded one of the fastest growth rates in buybacks in 2025 among major global markets, and particularly in Asia. 

Buybacks in China rose sharply in 2024, according to the study, when the Chinese government dialled up its encouragement for repurchase schemes as a way of supporting the stock market, through which banks were directed to lend companies money to conduct such programmes.

Total buybacks in the country, the study estimates, fell to US$32 billion, down from US$48 billion in 2024. A number of companies have reached the end of their current programmes, which may help explain the decline, but more clarity will come later in the year on exactly where the total landed for 2025.

For Hong Kong, a large decline in buybacks to US$3.1 billion mainly reflects a smaller programme from individual companies that are major repurchasers of their own shares in Capital’s Hong Kong index.

Sectors

Financials accounted for just over a quarter ( 26% ) of 2025’s buybacks, up 23.1% to a record US$386 billion, while technology repurchases were up 18.5% to a record US$312 billion.

Food retail was also a hot spot, with buybacks up 93.2% year on year, although the total ( US$30 billion ) is less than one tenth of the technology sector spend.

The media sector total fell by a tenth as big internet companies focused on artificial intelligence capex, while energy buybacks declined for the third year running owing to lower oil prices.

Global buyback activity is concentrated among a relatively small number of large companies. In 2025, 20 companies accounted for nearly one-third ( 32% ) of total repurchases worldwide.

“Share buybacks are no longer a US-centric phenomenon with 52% of companies now running repurchase programmes, up from 36% a decade ago,” says Katharine Dryer, Capital’s equity asset class lead for Europe and Asia. “Buybacks can be an efficient way to return surplus cash to investors once investment needs and balance sheets are funded.”