All BP shareholders (US, UK, corporate, institutional, etc) should understand that dividends are not entitlements, regardless of past track record of dividend payment. They should also understand that any investment bears risks, and just as the price of a stock can go up, it can also go down. Companies can and do go bankrupt. Its all part of the risk of buying stock or accepting stock-based compensation as part of your pay package.

A move like this may hurt BP shareholders in the short term, but may also make the company better able to survive in the long term and put their investments at less risk in the long term. Anyone who thought that BP share values were going to stabilize any time soon is just fooling themselves.

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Jonathan

2011 Mazda2
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1994 C280 (retired)