The characteristics of dividend payers respectively non dividend payers are the main object of study in the literature following Fama and French (2001). Similar, another branch of literature studies share repurchases. Are all share repurchases payouts to shareholders (equivalent to dividends)? What are the consequences of defining payouts to shareholders as dividends only, dividends relevant share repurchases, or as net payouts? When is it reasonable to say that a firm has become a more generous payer or is a more generous payer than another firm? The literature is remarkably silent on these issues, and this is a hindrance to further progress in the study of payouts to shareholders. In this study we answer these questions and develop general measures for a firm's payouts to shareholders. The crucial measures are payout yield measured in fixed prices when we compare payouts to shareholders across firms and corrected payouts per share when we compare a firm's payouts to shareholders over time.