Stratrix

StratonomicsCapital allocation

Buybacks vs Capex

How are large companies splitting their cash between building and buying back their own stock?

Sources SEC, Federal Reserve, BEAUpdated every six monthsEditions 1

Every dollar of profit a company keeps faces the same fork: invest it in the business, buy another business, or hand it back to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. Added up across every large company, those choices show where corporate America thinks its best returns are.

This theme tracks the split from company filings with the SEC, set against the government's figures for business investment and the Federal Reserve's count of stock issued and retired across the economy.

What this theme tracks

  • Capital spending by the largest spenders against everyone else
  • Capex per dollar of revenue, by industry
  • How each industry splits its cash between capex, acquisitions, buybacks and dividends
  • Net stock issued or retired by all US nonfinancial companies

Latest edition · Q4 2026 · October 20, 2026

Five Tech Giants Spent $413 Billion on Capex in 2025. They Now Invest Like Utilities.

Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle put 25 cents of every revenue dollar into buildings, servers and equipment in 2025, close to a utility's 26 cents and up from 10 cents in 2019. The other 1,310 large US companies held at 5 cents and returned more of their cash to shareholders.

What happened

  1. Five companies did 60% of the new investing. Their capital spending rose from $71 billion in 2019 to $413 billion in 2025, or 31% of all capex by large US public companies.
  2. They now invest like utilities. The five spent 25 cents of every revenue dollar on capital assets. Utilities spent 26 cents. Everyone else spent 5 cents.
  3. Their cash shifted away from shareholders. Capex took 73% of the cash the five deployed, up from 47% in 2019. Buybacks and dividends took 24%, down from 52%.
  4. Everyone else followed the economics of their own business. Utilities put 79% of their cash into capex. Technology companies outside the five returned 66% to shareholders. Across all 1,310, the share returned rose to 52% from 48%.
  5. The equity market turned. In 2026, US nonfinancial companies issued more stock than they retired for the first time since 2021.
$413BCapex by the five in 2025, against $71 billion in 2019
25 centsCapex per revenue dollar at the five. Utilities: 26 cents. Everyone else: 5 cents
60%The five's share of the growth in large-company capex since 2019
+$613BNet new stock issued by US nonfinancial companies, annual rate, Q2 2026
Exhibit 1
In 2025, five companies made 31% of all capital spending by large US public companies, up from 9% in 2019

Capital expenditures, billions of dollars, US public companies with revenue over $1 billion. Labels show the five's share.

Capital spending by large US public companiesCapital expenditures by year, 2016 to 2025: the five largest spenders of 2025 against everyone else. The five's share rose from 5% to 31%.$0B$300B$600B$900B$1.2T$1.5T2016, Everyone else: $606B2016, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $32B5%2016’17, Everyone else: $623B’17, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $42B6%’17’18, Everyone else: $730B’18, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $66B8%’18’19, Everyone else: $696B’19, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $71B9%’19’20, Everyone else: $594B’20, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $95B14%’20’21, Everyone else: $651B’21, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $130B17%’21’22, Everyone else: $801B’22, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $159B17%’22’23, Everyone else: $857B’23, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $147B15%’23’24, Everyone else: $852B’24, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $238B22%’242025, Everyone else: $928B2025, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle: $413B31%2025
Source: SEC XBRL filings, 2016 to 2025. Stratonomics analysis.
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Q4 2026 · October 20, 2026Five Tech Giants Spent $413 Billion on Capex in 2025. They Now Invest Like Utilities.Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle put 25 cents of every revenue dollar into buildings, servers and equipment in 2025, close to a utility's 26 cents and up from 10 cents in 2019. The other 1,310 large US companies held at 5 cents and returned more of their cash to shareholders.Read the edition →

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