repurchase

verb

re·​pur·​chase (ˌ)rē-ˈpər-chəs 

repurchased; repurchasing

transitive verb

: to buy (something) back or again

… some enterprises moving workloads to the cloud won't have to repurchase software they already own.

—Kurt Marko

especially, of a corporation : to purchase back (shares of one's own common stock) on the open market

The company last winter repaid $405 million of debt, repurchased $202 million in common stock and predicted that sales will rise between 3 and 5 percent this year.

—Jeremiah McWilliams

repurchase noun

plural repurchases

… pointed to the trend of share repurchases, or stock buybacks, emerging among major companies … . As they buy back millions, if not billions, of their shares, their supply of stock grows tighter … and their shareholders usually benefit.

—Elizabeth Gurdus

Examples of repurchase in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Shortly after filing a notice of intention to appoint administrators, the designer and his sister were able to repurchase the Christopher Kane and More Joy fashion labels in July 2023. —Tianwei Zhang, WWD, 21 Nov. 2024

The company has initiated a share repurchase program, authorized to repurchase up to $1 million of its outstanding common shares over a six-month period. —Quartz Bot, Quartz, 19 Nov. 2024

The ballet company has launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds for repurchasing the necessary props and ensuring that the community holiday tradition continues uninterrupted. —Duante Beddingfield, Detroit Free Press, 19 Nov. 2024

After failing to acquire Rogers Corporation due to regulatory hurdles, DuPont took the sale proceeds and repurchased billions of dollars worth of stock at much lower levels. —Jeff Marks, CNBC, 5 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1533, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing repurchase

• repurchase agreement

Legal Definition

repurchase

1 of 2 transitive verb

re·​pur·​chase

ˌrē-ˈpər-chəs

repurchased; repurchasing

: to buy back

repurchase shares of stock

repurchase

2 of 2 noun

: the act or an instance of purchasing something again or back

specifically : a corporation's buying back of some of its stock at market price (as to increase the amount of Treasury stock or as a preliminary step to going private)