/biz/ - Business & Finance

>Consider this. If public companies were legally obligated to distribute profits to their shareholders in the form of a dividend then every share would have some amount of intrinsic value based on the projected profitability of the company - sort of like a bond with a maturity that resets in perpetuity. But the fact is that public companies are under NO obligation to pay dividends EVER.

>Shares are WORTHLESS without a guarantee of dividends. The only reason the stock market is able to exist is because of the greater fool theory: people think that if they buy stock they can sell it to a greater fool at a higher price. The demand for stock is completely dependent on the hope that there exists this greater fool.

>Owning stock without dividends is like investing in art. Ownership earns you no income, but if you're lucky, some art collector will want to buy the art from you at a higher price.

>Art is a market where prices are determined by nothing more than human emotion and whim. We think of stocks as being priced by the valuation of the issuing company, but without a dividend your ownership of that value is useless!

>The stock market is a fucking MEME! PROVE ME WRONG