that makes no sense. companies need capital, that's why there is a stock market.... | Hacker News

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		fsckboy 51 days ago \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requ... that makes no sense. companies need capital, that's why there is a stock market. dividends are paid from past earnings, never capital (earnings are only a %age of the value of the capital) and not from higher expectations of the future.

cluckindan 51 days ago [–]

In a perfect world… reality is different, however.

Plenty of companies take on debt to pay dividends, e.g. just before going public.

fsckboy 49 days ago | [–]

growing companies generally have capital needs that exceed retained earnings, so paying dividends would by definition increase capital need.

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