Dividend payment for BP Shareholders?

A dividend is not required on stock as it is only a percentage of profit made after expenses and any other funds like for R&D that BP most likely has. As they are going to be paying a good portion to the United States for this mess they have a debt that is at an unknown for them how much it will end up being as they will also most likely fight over the price that they need to pay for the damages that there mistakes have made for businesses and people along the gulf as they are responsible for this. BP would be asking to go bankrupt if they pay these dividends and can't afford to pay the amount of fines they are going to get from this. I think also there stock is on the decrease as investors are knowing that BP is going to be push over and marched on because of the example the government is going to make of them. IF I owned stock in this company I would of sold it 53 Days ago. As this you might of been able to make some profit on this. BP has also damages the whole industry by causing the drilling of all off shore drills they could be held responsible for damages to other oil companies as they have caused the Government to shut down the industry. This is so that we as a nation/government could figure out what steps need to be taken in order to stop this from happening again. If I was BP I would start to give the 5.9 Billion to the Government or put that into some good use like stopping this. It would be good PR as they have marketed themselves as being different than other Oil Companies. Well They sure seem to be acting like some of the other companies out there. I can't wait to see what BP ends up paying to the claims of Damage.

I am actually divided on this issue. BP does have a responsibility to pay its shareholders. It also has a responsibility to pay clean-up costs. Right now, the priority should be the spill but they also can't neglect the shareholders because that is where some of the money is. I think what the politicians are asking is for BP to prioritize the spill over the shareholders but doing that will hurt the company. Simply because, many shareholders will start selling stock if they don't get paid. Which drives down the stock price which starts the "abandon ship" movement. Which in turn could tank BP. If BP tanks, then all of the claims will basically disappear. Which means those with claims won't get paid. Which essentially puts the responsibility for clean-up onto the American taxpayers. Wow is BP ever in a Catch-22. Unfortunately, all the politicians are thinking about right or wrong is getting those claims paid.

They are running on the assumption that BP will not be able to pay the claims. Let them continue to do business then they WILL be able to

personally i think the right thing to do would be not to pay the dividend as of now in order to put more of the finances towards the BP oil spill, but at the same time the share price of the stock will probably drop even more if BP doesn't pay the dividend. Since I think BP will probably lose more money if they don't pay the dividend due to the share price dropping, I think it would be best financially to pay the dividend.

Bob a dividend should be paid when a corporation has paid all of it's debts. Currently no one knows how much BP will owe for this clean up. So how can they pay a dividend when they have no idea if they will have money to pay the dividend and their debts? This is basic business practices here. As you put it, the investors can decided weather BP is a good investment or not. The people in the Gulf can't just sell their stock in BP and have their lives back to normal.

Personally I don't think our government should be getting involved in the business dividends pay out of corporations. The private sector is just that private. BP is a nasty spot now. If they don't pay their stock holders and they start a sell off...BP could go under. How would they pay for the clean up then? They won't. The tax payer will. The claimants won't see their money if BP goes under. But if htey pay the dividends...share holders are happy. And BP pays out on the claims and pay for the clean up. Everyone is at least happier. With fewer costs to the tax payer. Or that is how I see it.

Herro bobmnu I think differently. When you invest in a stock, yes you may be saving for retirement. My IRA lost 50%+ during the crash. That is a risk I took. The business people along the Gulf are frequently a generational business. They did not ask for BP to be careless and unprepared. We also have to consider the tourist trade. I have spent many hours along the Gulf coast, weekends, week vacations, etc. True, I can go elsewhere for vacation. I do enjoy the Gulf, both the beaches and the water. If there is a risk of oil in the water, I will not go in. If there is oil on the beach I won't go. I have health issues and don't want to risk making them worse. I like seafood, shrimp and crab. As the price goes higher I can no longer afford to buy them. Prosperous mylotting

To those politicians I would say that given the logic they are using then perhaps the taxpayers should not pay their taxes due to the mess that the government has made of the economy. BP should pay it's dividends to it's investors... otherwise it will have no investors, which means it will have no way to pay for this spill... and the taxpayers will then be guaranteed to be stuck with the full cost of the cleanup. This just further illustrates that politics and intelligence do not occupy the same space.

If you paid for something then you should get what is due you.