Dividends

n. bonus, reward; portion of profits; share of anything divided; number to be divided (Mathematics)

Dividends are payments made by a company to its shareholders. When a company earns a profit, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business (called retained earnings), or it can be paid to the shareholders of the company as a dividend. Paying dividends is not an expense; rather, it is the division of an asset among shareholders. Many companies retain a portion of their earnings and pay the remainder as a dividend. Publicly-traded companies usually pay dividends on a fixed schedule, but may declare a dividend at any time, sometimes called a special dividend to distinguish it from a regular one.
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Noun
1. that part of the earnings of a corporation that is distributed to its shareholders; usually paid quarterly
(hypernym) net income, net, net profit, lucre, profit, profits, earnings
(hyponym) stock dividend
2. a number to be divided by another number
(hypernym) number
(hyponym) numerator
3. a bonus; something extra (especially a share of a surplus)
(hypernym) bonus, incentive

DIVIDENDI