📅 On This Day
Verizon's $130 Billion Vodafone Deal Reshapes Dividend Destiny
On September 2, 2013, Verizon agreed to acquire Vodafone's indirect 45% stake in Verizon Wireless for approximately $130 billion — described at the time as among the third-largest corporate deals in history. The transaction ended a joint venture that had complicated both companies' capital allocation for years, handing Verizon full control of its wireless cash flows. For dividend investors, the outcome was clarifying: Verizon has raised its dividend every year since.
Full ownership of Verizon Wireless meant one less claim on the cash that funds your quarterly payment.
VZ — Verizon CDR (CAD Hedged)
🇺🇸 US
Source: Fox News; The Wall Street Journal
📅 On This Day
Verizon's $130 Billion Vodafone Deal Reshapes Dividend Destiny
On September 2, 2013, Verizon agreed to acquire Vodafone's indirect 45% stake in Verizon Wireless for approximately $130 billion — described at the time as among the third-largest corporate deals in history. The transaction ended a joint venture that had complicated both companies' capital allocation for years, handing Verizon full control of its wireless cash flows. For dividend investors, the outcome was clarifying: Verizon has raised its dividend every year since.
Full ownership of Verizon Wireless meant one less claim on the cash that funds your quarterly payment.
VZ — Verizon Communications Inc
🇺🇸 US
Source: Fox News; The Wall Street Journal
🌍 Around the World
Sweden's 30% Withholding Tax Eases With Treaty Relief
Sweden applies a 30% withholding tax — kupongskatt — on dividends paid to non-residents, but the U.S.-Sweden tax treaty reduces that rate to 15%, typically applied at source for major ADRs. Swedish dividend culture leans heavily on annual spring payments following AGM approval, and the country boasts some notably long-tenured payers, including Atlas Copco, SKF, and Svenska Handelsbanken. IRA holders, however, permanently lose the 15% treaty rate with no mechanism for recovery.
Excess withholding above 15% can be reclaimed via Skatteverket — Sweden's system is among Europe's more efficient.
🇸🇪 SE
Source: Nasdaq Stockholm; PwC Tax Summaries
🔥 Dividend Streak
Twice Bankrupt, Once Rejected by Coke — Pepsi Raises Dividend Again
Pepsi's inventor went bankrupt in 1923, and the company failed again in 1931 — twice approaching Coca-Cola about a sale, twice turned away. The company even once accepted Soviet submarines as payment for syrup. That firm, written off more than once by history, has now raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years, a streak running from 1973 through at least 2025.
The submarines were old and unseaworthy — but the 53-year dividend streak is entirely seaworthy.
PEP — Pepsi CDR (CAD Hedged)
Source: americanbusinesshistory.org; Foreign Policy
🔥 Dividend Streak
Twice Bankrupt, Once Rejected by Coke — Pepsi Raises Dividend Again
Pepsi's inventor went bankrupt in 1923, and the company failed again in 1931 — twice approaching Coca-Cola about a sale, twice turned away. The company even once accepted Soviet submarines as payment for syrup. That firm, written off more than once by history, has now raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years, a streak running from 1973 through at least 2025.
The submarines were old and unseaworthy — but the 53-year dividend streak is entirely seaworthy.
PEP — PepsiCo Inc
Source: americanbusinesshistory.org; Foreign Policy
🔥 Dividend Streak
Twice Bankrupt, Once Rejected by Coke — Pepsi Raises Dividend Again
Pepsi's inventor went bankrupt in 1923, and the company failed again in 1931 — twice approaching Coca-Cola about a sale, twice turned away. The company even once accepted Soviet submarines as payment for syrup. That firm, written off more than once by history, has now raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years, a streak running from 1973 through at least 2025.
The submarines were old and unseaworthy — but the 53-year dividend streak is entirely seaworthy.
PEP — PepsiCo Inc
Source: americanbusinesshistory.org; Foreign Policy
💡 Did You Know
FedEx Founder Bet the Company on a Las Vegas Blackjack Table
In 1973, Federal Express faced grounded planes and a $24,000 fuel bill it could not pay — bankruptcy was hours away. Founder Frederick Smith took the company's last $5,000 to Las Vegas, played blackjack, and won $27,000, wiring it back to Memphis in time to keep the planes flying. The gamble bought just enough runway to secure proper venture capital and rescue the company that would become one of America's iconic dividend payers.
When bankruptcy is certain, even a long-shot bet can be the rational play — Smith understood the math.
FDX — FedEx Corporation
🇺🇸 US
Source: Vance Trimble, 'Overnight Success: Federal Express and Frederick Smith' (1993); Smithsonian National Postal Museum
💡 Did You Know
FedEx Founder Bet the Company on a Las Vegas Blackjack Table
In 1973, Federal Express faced grounded planes and a $24,000 fuel bill it could not pay — bankruptcy was hours away. Founder Frederick Smith took the company's last $5,000 to Las Vegas, played blackjack, and won $27,000, wiring it back to Memphis in time to keep the planes flying. The gamble bought just enough runway to secure proper venture capital and rescue the company that would become one of America's iconic dividend payers.
When bankruptcy is certain, even a long-shot bet can be the rational play — Smith understood the math.
FDX — FedEx Corporation
🇺🇸 US
Source: Vance Trimble, 'Overnight Success: Federal Express and Frederick Smith' (1993); Smithsonian National Postal Museum