[ajmurmann]

Apple had multiple money printers. Disney with parks in addition to movies. Netflix switched from dominating with envelopes to pioneering streaming. Intel famously switched from memory to CPUs.

I agree though that returning cash to shareholders should be more common when there are no good investment opportunities for the company. The book The Outsiders goes into several super successful CEOs who have the common thread of treating their business like an investment portfolio. I'd strongly suggest stock buybacks over dividends though because that gives control to the shareholders about when the taxable event occurs and will typically lead to lower taxes. It's somehow frowned upon by the general public, but it's very similar in what it does to dividends but more efficient at it.