Abstract
There are two major ways in which a firm can distribute cash to its common stockholders. The firm can either declare a cash dividend which it pays to all its common stockholders or it can repurchase stock. Stock repurchases may take the form of registered tender offers, open market purchases, or negotiated repurchases from a large shareholder. By far the most common method of distributing cash to shareholders is through the payment of cash dividends. For example, in 1985, US corporations paid over $83 billion in cash dividends.
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© 1989 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Brickley, J.A., Mcconnell, J.J. (1989). Dividend Policy. In: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds) Finance. The New Palgrave. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20213-3_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20213-3_12
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