Between 1998 and 2018, the plane manufacturer also manufactured a whopping $61.0 billion in stock buybacks, amounting to 81.8 percent of its profits. Add in dividends and Boeing's shareholders received 121 percent of its profits.
Stock buybacks should be illegal or at least heavily regulated. They're stealing money from their employees, putting their company in peril by not having cash on hand, and stunting innovation. Imagine if major companies had to put profit back into their company? Instead it's a game to see how much you can exploit the working class, how little you can innovate and still get by (it's easy when you have no competition), and gamble (after lobbying with minimal money) that your political plants will force the taxpayers you're exploiting to bail you out. It's pretty disgusting.
https://greenalphaadvisors.com/boeings-struggles-highlight-the-perils-of-stock-buybacks/
https://www.tipranks.com/stocks/ba/buybacks#google_vignette --> they're still doing it as of March of this year.
While you are correct that dividends would be paid, it just wouldn't happen on this scale or to this detriment, imo. Buybacks are used as a crutch to generate Short-term profit and lead to executives and companies focusing on short-term goals. They artificially increase EPS for executive compensation. This is all exacerbated when companies know they're going to be bailed out by taxpayers because there are only 2 companies that make planes now, or 3 media companies setting prices together.