Costco Declares $30 Special Dividend, $13.3 B Payout and Restarts $4 B Buyback

COST declared a $30 per-share special cash dividend after Tuesday's close, about $13.3 billion in all and the largest in the company's history. It is payable December 4 to shareholders of record on November 24, on top of the regular quarterly dividend of $1.47 a share. The board also reauthorized a buyback of up to $4 billion that runs to November 2030, replacing a 2023 program of the same size that had about $900 million left.

The size is the story. The payout is double the $15 special Costco paid in January 2024, which cost about $6.7 billion, and equals about 1.44 times the $9.226 billion the company earned in fiscal 2026 and about two-thirds of the $20.207 billion in cash it held on August 30. It is the sixth special dividend since 2012, each paid from cash on hand, following $7 in December 2012, $5 in February 2015, $7 in May 2017, $10 in December 2020 and $15 in January 2024.

The stock traded at about $1,083 in early after-hours trading against a $1,066.14 close, a gain of about 1.6%, and Wednesday headlines described shares nearing an all-time high. With one-day settlement, November 24 is also the ex-dividend date, so that morning's opening reference price will be the prior close less $30.

A special dividend is generally taxed as a qualified dividend when the holding-period test is met, while one received inside a traditional IRA is later taxed as ordinary income. The broader read is capital allocation: a payout this large signals the board sees more cash than its warehouse expansion needs, though Costco has kept growing after each of its previous specials.