📅 On This Day
Microsoft's $150 Million Lifeline Saves Apple — and Rewrites Dividend History
On August 6, 1997, Steve Jobs took the stage at Macworld Boston and announced that Microsoft had invested $150 million in Apple as part of a patent settlement — with Bill Gates appearing on the giant screen to a chorus of boos. Apple was weeks from insolvency at the time, and few in that room could have imagined the company would one day become one of the largest dividend payers in history. The rescue nobody wanted turned out to be a gift nobody fully appreciated.
The deal that saved Apple cost $150 million; what it ultimately returned to dividend investors is a different story entirely.
AAPL — Apple Inc.
🇺🇸 US
Source: Cult of Mac; The Wall Street Journal
📅 On This Day
Microsoft's $150 Million Lifeline Saves Apple — and Rewrites Dividend History
On August 6, 1997, Steve Jobs took the stage at Macworld Boston and announced that Microsoft had invested $150 million in Apple as part of a patent settlement — with Bill Gates appearing on the giant screen to a chorus of boos. Apple was weeks from insolvency at the time, and few in that room could have imagined the company would one day become one of the largest dividend payers in history. The rescue nobody wanted turned out to be a gift nobody fully appreciated.
The deal that saved Apple cost $150 million; what it ultimately returned to dividend investors is a different story entirely.
AAPL — Apple CDR (CAD Hedged)
🇺🇸 US
Source: Cult of Mac; The Wall Street Journal
🌍 Around the World
Greece Offers a 5% Dividend Withholding Rate, Among Europe's Lowest
Greece has reduced its dividend withholding tax in recent years to a rate commonly cited at 5% — well below the 15–35% range seen across much of Europe, including Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Portugal. For income-focused investors, that gap is meaningful: more of each dividend lands in the portfolio rather than disappearing into a foreign treasury. It positions Greece as a quietly attractive corner of the European dividend landscape.
At 5%, Greece's withholding rate stands in sharp contrast to the heavier burdens investors face across much of the continent.
🇬🇷 GR
Source: PwC Tax Summaries; Tax Foundation Europe
🔥 Dividend Streak
Leggett & Platt's 52-Year Dividend King Streak Ends With an 89% Cut
Leggett & Platt had raised its dividend for 52 consecutive years — earning it a place among the elite Dividend Kings — before a single board decision erased that legacy. On April 30, 2024, the company cut its quarterly payout from $0.46 to $0.05 per share, a move driven by debt management and a need to fund a turnaround. It is a sobering reminder that a decades-long streak reflects historical discipline, not an ironclad promise.
A streak stretching back to 1972 was reset to zero in one quarter — proof that no title shields a payout from operational distress.
LEG — LEG Immobilien SE
🇺🇸 US
Source: Leggett & Platt Q4 2023 Earnings Release; S&P Dividend Aristocrats methodology
🔥 Dividend Streak
Leggett & Platt's 52-Year Dividend King Streak Ends With an 89% Cut
Leggett & Platt had raised its dividend for 52 consecutive years — earning it a place among the elite Dividend Kings — before a single board decision erased that legacy. On April 30, 2024, the company cut its quarterly payout from $0.46 to $0.05 per share, a move driven by debt management and a need to fund a turnaround. It is a sobering reminder that a decades-long streak reflects historical discipline, not an ironclad promise.
A streak stretching back to 1972 was reset to zero in one quarter — proof that no title shields a payout from operational distress.
LEG — Leggett & Platt Incorporated
🇺🇸 US
Source: Leggett & Platt Q4 2023 Earnings Release; S&P Dividend Aristocrats methodology
🔥 Dividend Streak
Leggett & Platt's 52-Year Dividend King Streak Ends With an 89% Cut
Leggett & Platt had raised its dividend for 52 consecutive years — earning it a place among the elite Dividend Kings — before a single board decision erased that legacy. On April 30, 2024, the company cut its quarterly payout from $0.46 to $0.05 per share, a move driven by debt management and a need to fund a turnaround. It is a sobering reminder that a decades-long streak reflects historical discipline, not an ironclad promise.
A streak stretching back to 1972 was reset to zero in one quarter — proof that no title shields a payout from operational distress.
LEG — Legend Mining Ltd
🇺🇸 US
Source: Leggett & Platt Q4 2023 Earnings Release; S&P Dividend Aristocrats methodology
💡 Did You Know
Stanley Black & Decker Has Paid Dividends Continuously Since 1877
Stanley Black & Decker's dividend record stretches back to 1877 — before the commercial light bulb existed, before the Dow Jones Industrial Average was conceived, and before the Federal Reserve was founded. The company has also raised its dividend for 59 consecutive years, holding Dividend King status while weathering every economic storm since the Reconstruction era. Few corporations anywhere can claim a payments history this deep.
SWK has kept its dividend intact through panics, depressions, and recessions — a record that began when Ulysses S. Grant was president.
SWK — Stanley Black & Decker Inc
🇺🇸 US
Source: Stanley Black & Decker investor relations; Dividend Power