The dividend is back. Are investors right to be pleased?
Why cash payments are no longer the preserve of widows and orphans
Meta celebrated its 20th anniversary this week as all good and mature businesses should: by paying shareholders a dividend. In lieu of a birthday bash, the Silicon Valley stalwart marked its coming of age with a stock buy-back and, for the first time, by offering a dividend. Investors will receive 50 cents per share. Markets partied, with Meta’s share price rising by 20%, adding more than $200bn to the company’s market capitalisation on the day of the announcement.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The dividend is back”
Finance & economics February 10th 2024
From the February 10th 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Trump wastes no time in reigniting trade wars
Canada and Mexico look likely to suffer
How Trump, Starmer and Macron can avoid a debt crunch
With deficits soaring, their finance ministers will have to be smart
What Scott Bessent’s appointment means for the Trump administration
The president-elect’s nominee for treasury secretary faces a gruelling job
What Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders get wrong about credit cards
Forget interest rates. Rewards are the real problem
Computers unleashed economic growth. Will artificial intelligence?
Two years after ChatGPT-3.5 arrived, progress has been slower than expected
Should investors just give up on stocks outside America?
No, but it is getting a lot harder to keep the faith