Verizon Wireless announced that its board approved a long-awaited dividend of USD 10 billion for its owners. The distribution will be paid out at the end of January 2012, in proportion to their shareholdings in the mobile operator. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications, which owns 55 percent, and Vodafone Group, which owns 45 percent. Verion Wirelesss stopped paying a dividend to its parent companies in 2005. Vodafone has been pushing for the company to resume payments, while Verizon was focused on paying off debt. Vodafone said its share of the dividend will be USD 4.5 billion. It will use the bulk of this to pay its shareholders a special dividend of GBP 2.0 billion, equal to 4 pence a share, in February 2012. The balance of the proceeds will be retained to reduce net debt.
