Lessons From Warren Buffett: Dividend Policy

A number of Berkshire shareholders -- including some of my good friends -- would like Berkshire to pay a cash dividend. It puzzles them that we relish the dividends we receive from most of the stocks that Berkshire owns, but pay out nothing ourselves. So let’s examine when dividends do and don’t make sense for shareholders. -- Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 2012 annual letter to shareholders.

Berkshire Hathaway has famously never paid a dividend, a fact that has become a point of contention amongst some of the firm's investors. But the company’s (Buffett’s) reluctance to instigate a payout has more to it than meets the eye; dividends are not a zero sum game.

Teledyne & dividends - Master capital allocator

Henry Singleton,...