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Every publicly traded company passes several important milestones on the road to success. Examples of those milestones for Big Tech companies include getting seed funding, successfully exiting from the startup stage and having an IPO. In 2024, three of the world’s biggest tech companies passed another important milestone, announcing they would pay shareholder dividends. Keep reading to discover which ones, how much they’re paying and if they’re right for you.
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The search engine giant has made its shareholders rich for the last decade, according to TechPolicy.press website. Google searches account for 85% of the total internet search volume in the United States and 90% of the global volume. That 800 lb gorilla-sized market share has also turned Google into an advertising powerhouse that almost every business must cater to in one form or another.
Whether it’s paying directly for Google ads or employing SEO techniques to elevate your company’s search results, one thing remains clear. If you’re on the internet but not coming up in Google searches, you are not “really” on the internet. This is a multibillion-dollar per year business sector and Google is the undisputed champion.
Benzinga estimates Google’s market cap at an astronomical $2.34 trillion and its stock is trading near an all-time high in the $190 range. Google announced in Q1 2024 that it would be paying a dividend of 0.04%, around $0.20 per share. It’s hardly a huge payoff, but Google is not a passive income stock. It’s a buy-and-hold share that you can build your portfolio around.
Like Google, the Meta family of companies, which includes Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, has become ubiquitous in the lives of billions of people worldwide. That translates into a massive advertising business and other revenue streams because at least one (if not more) of Meta’s apps is on every smartphone, tablet and desktop computer worldwide.
Meta stands out for its ability to collect user data, which allows companies to be incredibly precise when purchasing online advertising. According to public filings, Meta’s most recent quarter yielded a 22% increase in revenue ($39 billion), with $13.5 billion as net income. That helps explain the $592.19 price for Meta shares.
Meta’s dividend of 0.03% is not eye-popping and translates to around $0.50 per share, but that doesn’t make Meta any less of an attractive investment. Meta’s dominant online position means investors can likely rely on this stock to show continued growth for many years. The dividend is just the cherry on top of an already very delicious investment package.
Salesforce specializes in online customer relations management (CRM) and worker productivity software. Both fields have become increasingly important as consumers continue to do more business online and remote work has become a permanent fixture in the corporate world. Salesforce’s purchase of the Slack messaging app has given it a strong presence in the worker productivity sector.
Notably, Salesforce has also invested heavily in AI and management is very bullish on the company’s newest product, Agentforce. This AI platform helps companies develop bespoke AI functions or automated processes to improve customer interactions and product flows. It remains to be seen how well that does, but Slack and the CRM component of Salesforce’s business still generate solid revenue.
According to Benzinga, Salesforce shares are trading at $334.33 and the company announced it will be paying a dividend of 0.04%, roughly $1.33 per share. That’s certainly not the big 7% passive income dividend payout you might get from a dividend king like Altria. However, Salesforce is still a good potential add for your portfolio from a growth perspective.
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