But last year, I would say that there were strong arguments for believing that AAPL shares had gotten ahead of intrinsic value, and that last year's repurchases removed value.

I agree, the IV10/price ratio was pretty poor for Apple last year, and still isn't great today. Although when deciding what to do, it is always sensible to think in terms of looking at the options and deciding which option is best. The alternative besides share buybacks, for Apple's excess cash beyond operation needs, is pass the cash directly to Berkshire via a larger dividend. That would generate an immediate cash hit from the income, so there is least that small advantage of buybacks over the dividend given that Berkshire is likely to hold Apple for decades rather than years. (I make the later distinction because: If you are holding a company only for several years, and not decades, the dividend hit is partly neutralised by the lower future capital gains tax, but this doesn't apply for Berkshire given that Apple will probably never be sold, so the enormously delayed tax almost has an effect of eliminating for reasons that are clumsy to explain).

- Manlobbi