No. of Recommendations: 8
People who want a dividend want the cash. They also do not want to sell any shares to get cash, they want the company to give them the money.
This is not *always* the case. For years, Banco Santander had a high dividend which each shareholder could elect to take in cash or in newly issued shares. It was quite popular, until the Spanish government decided it was working too well as a way for non-Spanish holders of the stock to avoid the withholding tax on dividends.
I doubt Berkshire could get away with it, but it would make a lot of people happy. There is long term slow dilution from the newly issued shares, but correspondingly less cash leaving the building compared to a "normal" dividend, which can be allocated without tax consequences for a future return.
Jim
