Meta Platforms Inc. surprised Wall Street on Thursday with its first-ever dividend, a move that’s likely Silicon Valley’s most monumental dividend decision since Apple Inc. reinstated its payout over a decade ago — and one that could light a fire under other tech giants. With Meta’s
META,
+1.19%
plans to pay a 50 cents-a-share quarterly dividend beginning in March, the company will join Apple
AAPL,
+1.33%
and Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
+1.56%
among Big Tech’s dividend payers. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s willingness to make this move could lead investors to clamor for similar moves by Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
+0.64%
GOOGL,
+0.76%
and Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
+2.63%,
two tech holdouts that are older than Meta.
Meta’s dividend plans could get the stock noticed even more on Wall Street, including by the committee choosing components for the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA.
While it’s no longer required for Dow candidates to issue dividends, paying one could certainly help Meta’s resume. Currently within the Dow, only Salesforce.com Inc.
CRM,
+0.96%
and Boeing Co.
BA,
-0.58%
do not pay dividends; Boeing’s was suspended in 2020, along with its share-buyback program. Ultimately, decisions about new Dow entrants are at the will of the index committee, but the communications services sector, of which Meta and Amazon are part, is underweighted in the Dow relative to the S&P …
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META,
+1.19%
plans to pay a 50 cents-a-share quarterly dividend beginning in March, the company will join Apple
AAPL,
+1.33%
and Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
+1.56%
among Big Tech’s dividend payers. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s willingness to make this move could lead investors to clamor for similar moves by Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
+0.64%
GOOGL,
+0.76%
and Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
+2.63%,
two tech holdouts that are older than Meta.
Meta’s dividend plans could get the stock noticed even more on Wall Street, including by the committee choosing components for the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA.
While it’s no longer required for Dow candidates to issue dividends, paying one could certainly help Meta’s resume. Currently within the Dow, only Salesforce.com Inc.
CRM,
+0.96%
and Boeing Co.
BA,
-0.58%
do not pay dividends; Boeing’s was suspended in 2020, along with its share-buyback program. Ultimately, decisions about new Dow entrants are at the will of the index committee, but the communications services sector, of which Meta and Amazon are part, is underweighted in the Dow relative to the S&P …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]