Module 4 of 5 · When the company changes your shares

Corporate Actions

Ex-date and record date, dividends, bonus and split, rights issues, buybacks, mergers and demergers.

Lessons
6 lessons
Total reading time
about 18 min in total
Your progress 
Start with lesson 1

Lessons in this module

  1. Corporate Actions, Ex-Date and Record DatebeginnerThe single most confusing pair of dates in the market, explained with a timeline — plus why the share price drops on ex-date and nobody has lost anything. 3 min read
  2. Dividends: How They Work and How They Are TaxedbeginnerCash paid to shareholders out of profit — why the percentage in the announcement is not what you think, and how the tax works. 3 min read
  3. Bonus Issue and Stock SplitbeginnerTwo actions that give you more shares and change nothing about what you own. Here is the difference between them, and why companies bother. 3 min read
  4. Rights Issue and Rights EntitlementintermediateThe company offers you more shares at a discount. You can take it, sell the right, or do nothing — and doing nothing is the one option that costs you money. 3 min read
  5. Share Buyback: Tender Offer and Open MarketintermediateA company buying its own shares back — the two routes, why it is the opposite of a rights issue, and what the acceptance ratio means for you. 3 min read
  6. Mergers, Demergers, Name Changes and DelistingintermediateWhat happens to your shares when companies combine, split apart, change their name or leave the exchange altogether. 3 min read