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Adobe’s stock buyback authorization allows it to repurchase shares, but it does not require the company to spend the full amount or follow a fixed schedule. In the nine months ended August 28, 2026, Adobe delivered 26.1 million shares bought on the open market for $6.82 billion. Those delivered shares can reduce the share count used to calculate earnings per share (EPS), but a buyback alone does not prove that Adobe’s earnings or stock price rose—or that every shareholder gained.

What Adobe’s buyback authorization permits

In April 2026, Adobe’s board authorized up to $25 billion for share repurchases through April 30, 2030. At August 28, 2026, $24.55 billion remained available under that authorization. The earlier $25 billion authorization granted in March 2024, which ran through March 14, 2028, was fully used during the nine months ended August 28, 2026. These figures are reported in Adobe’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended August 28, 2026, filed September 22, 2026.

An authorization is permission to buy shares up to a limit, not a promise to spend that amount. Adobe says it may repurchase shares in the open market or use structured repurchase agreements with financial institutions. Its stated aims are to return value to stockholders, minimize dilution from share issuances, and reduce the share count over time. Those are company objectives, not guaranteed results. In its April 21, 2026 announcement, Adobe CFO Dan Durn described the authorization as an expression of management’s confidence in the company’s cash flow and long-term value. That is management’s view; Adobe cautions that future repurchases and cash flows are forward-looking and actual results may differ.

How Adobe has executed repurchases

Open-market repurchases in 2026

For the nine months ended August 28, 2026, Adobe reported 26.1 million shares delivered through open-market repurchases for $6.82 billion. The filing also breaks out activity across three monthly intervals in the quarter:

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Period Shares repurchased Average price per share
May 30–June 26, 2026 2.9 million $221.95
June 27–July 24, 2026 3.1 million $219.90
July 25–August 28, 2026 3.5 million $260.01
Total for the three intervals 9.5 million Not stated as a combined average

The filing’s monthly figures are period-specific snapshots, not a current trading quote or a forecast of future purchases.

How the 2025 comparison differs

In the nine months ended August 28, 2025, Adobe reported 23.6 million shares delivered for $8.806 billion: 16.8 million through accelerated share repurchase agreements and 6.8 million through open-market repurchases. The filing separates those execution methods. The comparison does not establish that one method is inherently better; it shows that Adobe used and reported both methods in that earlier period, while its reported 2026 nine-month activity was through open-market repurchases.

How a buyback affects share count and EPS

When Adobe buys shares from willing sellers and the shares are delivered to the company, it accounts for them as treasury stock. Adobe says only shares physically delivered by period end are excluded from the weighted-average share count used to calculate net income per share. A repurchase agreement that has not resulted in delivered shares by period end therefore does not have the same effect on that accounting share count as shares already delivered.

The per-share arithmetic is simple: if net income stays the same while the weighted-average number of shares falls, EPS rises. That mechanical increase does not mean total net income improved. Nor does a lower share count by itself establish that Adobe’s stock price rose or that every shareholder is better off. Remaining shareholders own a larger fraction of the company if the share count declines, but the economic result also depends on the price Adobe paid, the company’s future performance, and the value of alternative uses for the cash.

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What the reported share count does—and does not—tell you

Adobe reported 389.2 million common shares issued and outstanding as of September 18, 2026. This is a point-in-time figure, distinct from the weighted-average share count used in EPS calculations for a reporting period. It should not be treated as a live share count, a market price, or a prediction of how many shares Adobe will repurchase next.

In practical terms, assess a buyback by separating the authorization, the shares actually delivered, and the financial outcome. The authorization shows capacity; delivered shares show what was completed in the stated period; EPS and shareholder value require looking beyond the buyback to earnings, purchase price, and what the company could otherwise have done with its cash.

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