Does Amazon Pay Dividends in 2024? AMZN Dividend History

Does Amazon Pay Dividends?

No, Amazon does not pay dividends as of April 2024. Why not? Will they ever? In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about Amazon stock dividends.

Amazon (AMZN) is one of the biggest e-commerce companies in the world, and it has expanded into artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital streaming, and online advertising over the years.

Headquartered in Seattle, United States, it was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, the second-wealthiest person in the world as of April 1, 2024. The current president and CEO of the company is Andy Jassy.

Amazon currently has a market capitalization of about $1.87 trillion, which is less than Microsoft (MSFT) but far more than rivals eBay (EBAY) and Alibaba (BABA), as well as other major tech companies such as Tesla (TSLA) and Netflix (NFLX). Amazon had a share price of approximately $179.8 at the time of writing.

As such, due to its strong profile and standing in line with the best tech stocks, why doesn’t Amazon pay dividends? The question remains one of the most asked by potential AMZN stock investors.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Does Amazon Pay Dividends?
2. Key Takeaways
3. What Are Dividends?
4. Amazon’s Business Model Explained
5. Why Doesn’t Amazon Pay Dividends?
6. Will Amazon Ever Pay Dividends?
7. Tech Stocks That Pay Dividends
8. The Bottom Line
9. FAQs
10. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Does Amazon Pay Dividends?
2. Key Takeaways
3. What Are Dividends?
Show Full Guide
4. Amazon’s Business Model Explained
5. Why Doesn’t Amazon Pay Dividends?
6. Will Amazon Ever Pay Dividends?
7. Tech Stocks That Pay Dividends
8. The Bottom Line
9. FAQs
10. References

What Are Dividends?

Dividends are payments that a company distributes to its shareholders from its profits.

Dividends are usually paid annually, but they can also be given out monthly or quarterly, depending on the company’s policies and individual situation.

Dividends can be paid by several types of investments, such as stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds, and they can be disbursed in the form of cash, property, or stock, amongst others.

The exact amount of dividend usually varies from year to year, depending on how the company performed during a particular year and how much it wants to reinvest in the business.

As such, it is very common for a company to refrain from paying out dividends in some years, especially if they see increased losses.

Since dividends are paid on a per-share basis, the amount received by each investor will vary depending on the number of shares they own.

Why Are Dividends Important to Investors?

Dividends are usually important to shareholders as they are seen as remuneration for the shares that they purchase, especially for long-term investors who hold shares for several years.

As such, dividends are a way of compensating and rewarding these investors for tolerating short-term risks and market fluctuations and not selling based on knee-jerk reactions.

Dividends are also seen as a long-term steady income source, which several investors rely upon for a variety of things, such as retirement income, supplementary income, or to be reinvested in their portfolios, amongst others.

Dividends are also tax-efficient in several jurisdictions, as they might be taxed at lower rates than other kinds of income and investments.

Amazon’s Business Model Explained

Amazon is considered one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ global technology companies, along with Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla.

Amazon’s primary business model is a growth-focused one based on e-commerce and logistics. However, in recent years, the company has made great progress in the cloud computing sector as well through Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers cloud storage, database, machine learning, security, and analytics products, amongst others.

Diversification remains a crucial aspect of the company’s strategy, through which it ensures the protection of its overall revenues in case one or more of its divisions are not doing very well at certain times.

Amazon is also a formidable name in the media, publishing, and digital streaming business with its Amazon Prime Video arm. It also owns Wondery, Twitch, MGM+, Amazon Music and Audible. Furthermore, it also has Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Publishing, as well as the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio.

Not only that, Amazon has also expanded into the grocery business through its acquisition of Whole Foods as well as the pharmaceutical business by taking over PillPack.

Other subsidiaries include online database IMDb, home security company Ring, a satellite internet company Kuiper Systems, self-driving car company Zoox, and hardware R&D company Amazon Lab126.

Amazon earns most of its revenue through one-time sales, subscriptions, and its Amazon Prime arm, as well as commissions on sales, pay-per-use, and support subscriptions.

Why Doesn’t Amazon Pay Dividends?

Amazon is well-known for aggressively reinvesting its profits into the business. As such, it chooses not to pay dividends in order to be able to redirect its profits towards expanding into more sectors, as evidenced by its business history.

Companies are usually not required by law to pay dividends, with several firms choosing to do as Amazon does and using profits to grow their business instead of compensating shareholders.

Others may also split profits so that both dividends and reinvestment goals can be achieved.

Due to this high focus on growth, Amazon is also constantly innovating and expanding into different markets, which requires substantial investments in research and development, as well as market research.

This could also be another potential reason why an Amazon dividend has been forgone in order to ensure sufficient funds remain available for these ventures.

What Does This Mean for Investors?

For different investors, the absence of an Amazon dividend could mean different things.

Investors who depend upon the stock for a steady or retirement income through dividends could be disappointed. These investors may be better off choosing other dividend-paying stocks.

However, growth-focused investors, as well as those who are not depending on Amazon stock for an income, especially if they have a more diversified portfolio, could potentially be rewarded for their patience down the line.

This is because Amazon’s current strategy of not paying dividends could also have several advantages.

If the company’s stock grows in value over time due to the company’s consistent investments in innovation and growth, investors could get back more than what they paid for if or when they choose to sell their stock.

Investors could also gain exposure to different sectors through Amazon’s entry into various markets such as healthcare, grocery, and artificial intelligence.

This could provide valuable insight into these sectors and help investors decide to invest in them further, either through Amazon or other, more specialized companies.

Amazon’s focus on diversification could also mean less overall risk for investors, which could potentially translate into higher returns down the line. Furthermore, due to the company retaining a significant portion of profits, it is much better equipped to deal with ongoing market changes as well as take advantage of sudden new opportunities.

As such, Amazon stock can also fit passive investors who are looking to buy a stock and let it grow over time without having to actively manage it.

Will Amazon Ever Pay Dividends?

Investors wonder, will Amazon pay dividends? At the beginning of the year, rumors sparked about Amazon potentially starting to pay dividends this year. However, this hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Meta, another Big Five tech company, recently announced its first-ever quarterly dividend back in February 2024. This has led to speculations that other major tech companies, such as Amazon and Alphabet, will follow suit.

US investment bank Goldman Sachs also anticipated that the robust earnings seen by the biggest US companies in the last quarter of 2023 could also prompt a dividend payment soon.

According to the bank, usually companies with large profit margins, share buyback programs, stable earnings and considerably low valuations are the most likely to either increase existing dividends or announce new ones.

According to an analysis from a team of Goldman Sachs equity analysts led by David Kostin, as reported by Morningstar in February 2024:

“Fellow Magnificent Seven members Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) are well positioned to introduce dividends of their own this year.”

Tech Stocks That Pay Dividends

Meanwhile, several tech companies do pay dividends depending on their long-term goals and how they handle investors. Some of the most prominent dividend-paying tech companies are the following:

The Bottom Line

Amazon is one of the most famous companies in the world – and a popular choice for many individual investors and fund managers.

The question ‘When does Amazon pay dividends?’ remains open, as it is unclear whether the company will decide to do so in the near future.

However, there have been increasing reports that the company may consider paying a dividend, following fellow Big Tech company Meta recently announcing its first-ever quarterly dividend in February 2024.

If you are considering whether to invest in Amazon, you need to decide if the company’s prospects match your longer-term aims and ambitions.

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