Doing this buyback is an indication that the roic is not great enough and deem it better to give it back to shareholders. Huge acquisitions are neither easy or cheap, cheap in the sense of not only the multiple you are paying but also the costs downstream of having to take over that company.

Sony and Apollo Capitol 'expressed an interest'.

BigCorp buys BigCorp deals seem to be about consolidating the market to 1)reduce competition 2)raise prices 3)kill jobs = a)raise bonuses b)promise a higher stock value. Also synergy.

We'll get a pre-merger announcement about creating new jobs; biz media everywhere will excitedly amplify it.

Typically, the DoJ can't rubber stamp these deals fast enough but sometimes they balk - or at least pretend to.

Edit: I see the gap now with your question. The buyback plan/funds are not executed all at once. A company approves amounts to be used for buybacks and then it happens over time. My point is that these buybacks are pretty normal for apple. You can look at Apples historical buyback plans and I think the last announced one was a year ago for $90b.

2018 - $100b

2021 - $90b

2022 - $90b

2023 - $90b

2024 - $110b

Is it a large? Yes. Is it out of the normal for them? No. It is also not especially a difficult reach when looking at their existing cash/security balances and FCF.