The total dividends paid by the world’s largest companies by the end of 2024 amounted to $1.747 trillion, according to a report by UK-based Janus Henderson Investors.
This is a record and 6.6% higher than the previous year.
In 17 of the 49 countries whose representatives were taken into account in the study, dividend payments reached historic highs. These include the US, Japan, France and China.
The leaders in the amount of payments were Microsoft Corp., Exxon Mobil, HSBC, Apple Inc., China Construction Bank Corp., PetroChina Co., China Mobile, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Chevron Corp. and Johnson & Johnson, whose dividends totaled $145.9 billion (or 8.4% of the total). Next came Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Verizon Communications, Abbvie, Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), BHP, Broadcom, Pfizer Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., Home Depot Inc. and Toyota Motor – their payouts totaled $101.7 billion.
Companies such as Meta, Alphabet Inc. and Alibaba declared their first-ever dividends last year.
About 88% of companies increased their payouts or kept them the same.
American companies increased dividends by 8.7% (up to $651.6 billion), Japanese companies – by 15.5% (up to $86 billion), European companies excluding Great Britain – by 5.6% (up to $313 billion), representatives of the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan – by 2% (up to $163.5 billion).
In the fourth quarter, the world’s leading companies paid $371.7 billion in dividends, which is 7.3% higher than in the same period in 2023.
According to Janus Henderson’s forecast, by the end of 2025, the total amount of dividends paid globally will grow by 5.1% to $1.83 trillion, i.e. will once again renew the record.
Janus Henderson’s quarterly study, which analyzes global trends in dividend payments, takes into account data from 1.2 thousand of the world’s largest companies by market value. It has been conducted since 2009.
