diff --git a/payloads/libpayload/libc/printf.c b/payloads/libpayload/libc/printf.c
index 2f1ca8bda6..6972636b23 100644
--- a/payloads/libpayload/libc/printf.c
+++ b/payloads/libpayload/libc/printf.c
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ static int print_char(char c, int width, uint64_t flags, struct printf_spec *ps)
 			++counter;
 	}
 
-	return ++counter;
+	return counter;
 }
 
 /**