The Walt Disney Company plans to reinstate its stock dividend by the end of the 2023 calendar year. Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the plan to bring back the dividend during the company’s first quarter 2023 earnings call.
Iger mentioned that a “modest dividend” would return in 2023 with plans to increase the dividend as cash flow settles. Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy reiterated that the dividend would initially be modest, and a fraction of what it was prior to 2020.
Disney’s dividend was halted back in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The dividend was stopped as Disney tried to conserve money while its parks, resorts, and cruise ships were closed. Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in 2021 that the dividend would return “in the distant future.”
Disney’s last dividend payment to shareholders was $0.88 in December 2019.
