📅 On This Day
Ford's First Sale Echoes Through a Century of Dividends
In late July 1903, Ford Motor Company delivered its very first car — a Model A — to Chicago dentist Ernst Pfennig for $850, just weeks after Henry Ford incorporated the company with $28,000 from twelve investors. That humble beginning would grow into one of America's most consequential industrial stories, including the landmark 1919 Dodge v. Ford lawsuit, in which the Dodge brothers sued Ford for withholding dividends to fund expansion — a case that still shapes corporate dividend law today. Ford has paid a dividend for most of its public life.
A dentist, $850, and a Model A: the transaction that launched a dividend legacy still debated in law schools.
F — Ford Motor Company
🇺🇸 US
Source: Ford Motor Company; The Henry Ford Museum
📅 On This Day
Ford's First Sale Echoes Through a Century of Dividends
In late July 1903, Ford Motor Company delivered its very first car — a Model A — to Chicago dentist Ernst Pfennig for $850, just weeks after Henry Ford incorporated the company with $28,000 from twelve investors. That humble beginning would grow into one of America's most consequential industrial stories, including the landmark 1919 Dodge v. Ford lawsuit, in which the Dodge brothers sued Ford for withholding dividends to fund expansion — a case that still shapes corporate dividend law today. Ford has paid a dividend for most of its public life.
A dentist, $850, and a Model A: the transaction that launched a dividend legacy still debated in law schools.
F — Ford CDR (CAD Hedged)
🇺🇸 US
Source: Ford Motor Company; The Henry Ford Museum
🌍 Around the World
Australia's Franking System Rewrites the Rules on Dividend Withholding
Australia's dividend mechanics are unlike almost anywhere else: when a company pays a fully franked dividend, corporate tax has already been settled on those profits, and foreign investors may owe no Australian withholding tax on that portion at all. Unfranked dividends, by contrast, face withholding of up to 30% — reduced to 15% under the U.S.-Australia tax treaty. For U.S. holders of ADRs like BHP or RIO, the franking credit itself doesn't cross borders, but the reduced withholding on franked portions still provides a real benefit.
Franked or unfranked? With Australian dividends, that single word can change what lands in your account.
🇦🇺 AU
Source: PwC Australia Tax Summaries; AusTaxPolicy
🔥 Dividend Streak
GM's Dividend Didn't Just Stop — Bankruptcy Wiped the Shares Out
When General Motors suspended its dividend in 2008 amid the financial crisis and collapsing car sales, income investors hoped for a temporary pause. Instead, GM filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and the original common stock — relabeled Motors Liquidation Company — was erased entirely, turning a streak interruption into a total loss for legacy holders. A new GM eventually emerged with government backing and didn't reinstate a dividend until 2014.
The starkest streak lesson on record: sometimes the check doesn't just shrink — the shares disappear with it.
GM — General Motors Company
🇺🇸 US
Source: CNNMoney; GM bankruptcy filings
💡 Did You Know
REIT Earnings Look Terrible by Design — Here's Why
GAAP accounting requires REITs to depreciate their properties each year, carving phantom losses into reported net income even as the underlying real estate often appreciates in value. The result is that a thriving, cash-generating REIT can appear deeply unprofitable on paper — making the P/E ratio nearly useless as a valuation tool. Savvy income investors bypass earnings entirely and focus on Funds From Operations (FFO) and Adjusted FFO (AFFO), which add depreciation back to reveal the true cash available to fund dividends.
Judging a REIT by its P/E ratio is one of the most common — and costly — mistakes new income investors make.
Source: Nareit FFO definition; SEC REIT reporting guidance