Earlier this week, David Brail and I had a little colloquy going on the RealMoney.com Columnist Conversation about reported institutional interest in a Microsoft dividend program, to begin whittling down the company's pile of cash. David thought instituting a dividend wasn't such a good idea, and he preferred a stock buyback by the company. But the Microsoft case illustrates, I think, why and how the current "buybacks are always good" logic has some gaps.
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