The Idiot Index

Sector
Shareholder ExtractionApplied to companies whose primary cost basis is cloud infrastructure and customer-facing operations rather than physical materials. The Markup Ratio carries explicit context that COGS captures non-material inputs.

Shareholder Extraction in Consumer Internet · FY 2023

23 of 37 companies · highest first
  1. 1
    VRSNVerisign
    $8.98 to shareholders for every $1 in R&D
    sector median 0.0000Top 2%
    8.9764
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D
  2. 2
    EBAYeBay
    $5.68 to shareholders for every $1 in R&D
    sector median 0.0000Top 7%
    5.6762
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D
  3. 3
    METAMeta
    $1.81 to shareholders for every $1 in R&D
    sector median 0.0000Top 11%
    1.8064
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D
  4. 4
    GOOGLAlphabet
    $1.59 to shareholders for every $1 in R&D
    sector median 0.0000Top 15%
    1.5929
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D
  5. 5
    ETSYEtsy
    $1.12 to shareholders for every $1 in R&D
    sector median 0.0000Top 20%
    1.1150
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D
  6. 6
    YELPYelp
    $0.99 to shareholders per $1 in R&D — net reinvesting
    sector median 0.0000Top 24%
    0.9914
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D
  7. 7
    ZGZillow
    $0.72 to shareholders per $1 in R&D — net reinvesting
    sector median 0.0000Median range
    0.7173
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D
  8. 8
    GRMNGarmin
    $0.63 to shareholders per $1 in R&D — net reinvesting
    sector median 0.0000Median range
    0.6311
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D
  9. 9
    NFLXNetflix
    $0.26 to shareholders per $1 in R&D — net reinvesting
    sector median 0.0000Median range
    0.2639
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D
  10. 10
    CARGCarGurus
    $0.14 to shareholders per $1 in R&D — net reinvesting
    sector median 0.0000Median range
    0.1356
    × buybacks+dividends / R&D

Not yet covered (14)

These companies are in the Consumer Internet cohort but don't have a Shareholder Extraction computed for FY 2023. Either the underlying inputs aren't tagged in their XBRL filings, the DEF 14A pay-ratio narrative didn't parse cleanly, or this fiscal year hasn't been ingested for them yet.

What this measures

Full methodology →

Dollars sent to shareholders for every dollar invested in R&D.

Ratio
Shareholder Extraction
Sector
Consumer Internet
Methodology version
v1.0.0
Formula
(Buybacks + Dividends) / R&DExpense
Sector context

Applied to companies whose primary cost basis is cloud infrastructure and customer-facing operations rather than physical materials. The Markup Ratio carries explicit context that COGS captures non-material inputs.

Whether the company invests in future productive capacity or extracts current value to shareholders. A ratio above 3.0 typically indicates an extraction-dominant capital allocation policy. A ratio below 1.0 indicates the company is investing more in its future than returning to shareholders.

Source data: PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock, PaymentsOfDividends, ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense (us-gaap) or equivalents in IFRS.