IHG Is Spending $950M to Shrink Itself. The Brands Should Be Nervous.
IHG is buying back $950 million in shares this year, canceling 20,000 at a time while its stock trades at 30x forward earnings. When an asset-light company spends more on financial engineering than system growth, the question isn't whether shareholders benefit — it's who's funding the buyback and what they're not getting in return.
