As far as I’m concerned, the discussions have always been all over the place and not confined to single topic. Therefore, I don’t get the point you’re trying to make!
When a company buys back its own shares, it has several options for what to do with the repurchased stock:
**** Retire the shares: The company can cancel the repurchased shares, effectively reducing the total number of outstanding shares. This is known as "retiring" the stock. Once retired, the shares cannot be reissued and have no financial value. ****
Isn't THIS what COOP did with the shares they bought back?