BP announces no dividends this year

[elchivito]

Yumpin' Yimminy! Just watching Carl Svanborgsonsonson or whatever his name is announce it. lotta retired Brits are gonna be pissed about this one...
They're also funding an independently overseen 20B dollar open ended reparations fund.
I guess maybe this takes away some of the sting of that limp-wristed speech last night.

[Pavka007]

What makes you think that the only one that suffer from this are some retired Brits?

You see, BP is not a person.
Like any other corporation, BP is a collection of contracts. The collection includes employment contracts - with people who are paid to be executives, with others who are expert in how to plug holes a mile below the surface of the Gulf, and with lots of workers. There are contracts with BP’s creditors, who expect to be paid on time. There are contracts with numerous suppliers, with other companies like Halliburton, with the owners of tankers. And there are contracts with the U.S. government, which has leased part of the Gulf to BP for drilling.
About 35% of the shares are held by US citizens and corporations, for a company of this size 35% are huge amount of money, we are talking billions here.
BP's shareholders (including the Brit pensioners who have shares of pension funds, small investors who own shares in mutual funds, and major investors, all over the world) are interested in only one thing -- maximizing the value of their shares.

No one is talking about it but the shares of many other companies have fallen as well because they are connected one way or the other.

The bottom line is that many more people are affected, but for whatever reason the current administration is focused on BP only.

It's impossible for BP to commit to doing anything because BP is not a human being capable of making commitments. BP's executives (like Tony Hayward) work for BP's shareholders. They can be replaced by BP's shareholders if BP’s shareholder aren’t satisifed with their performance. Or, more likely, BP's shareholders can sell out to major investors who will then replace BP’s executives if they don’t like the job they're doing.

It doesn't matter if Tony Hayward is called to the White House. It doesn't matter that President Obama says he'd like to fire him. Hayward's first responsibility is to BP's shareholders.

What about the US BP shareholders and their interests as U.S. citizens. Their citizenship interests are represented by US government, headed by the president so in a way you can say that the speech was against them as shareholders as well. How you balance that? Your own president speaking against your own people.
The whole disaster is way more complicated that just this popularity seeking speech from last night.

Like it or not this is the world around us....

[jlomon]

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.

[Skid Row Joe]

The sooner BP goes into Federal protection under bankruptcy law - the better for them. It looks inevitable to some experts I value opinions from.

[Pavka007]

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

The sooner BP goes into Federal protection under bankruptcy law - the better for them. It looks inevitable to some experts I value opinions from.

??? I don't follow you here. Everybody keep referring to BP as a British Company and now you want to put them under the protection of US government?? I don't really know who are the experts you trust but I wouldn't trust them on that one.

BP Headquarters are in London so how exactly this will happen?

The BP family of brands includes Amoco, ARCO, and BP gasolines, as well as am/pm retail outlets and Castrol motor oil in the US, so your experts are telling you that all those companies are going down??? BP is also the second largest gasoline marketer in the US. BP products and services are sold through 11,700 service stations around the country. So everybody going under federal protection?
WOW....looks like the ex USSR is reinvented in the US .....

I assume that BP's drilling operations are under a subsidiary with limited assets. I doubt all of BP would be involved in any US bankruptcy.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by Pavka007

What makes you think that the only one that suffer from this are some retired Brits?

You see, BP is not a person.

The bottom line is that many more people are affected, but for whatever reason the current administration is focused on BP only.

It's impossible for BP to commit to doing anything because BP is not a human being capable of making commitments. .


Like it or not this is the world around us....

The United Sates Supreme Court has ruled within the last year (absolute truth being a 5-4 Supreme Court decision) that corporations are INDEED actual, real, persons.

Perhaps you missed that.

[dynalow]

BP consolitated operating cash flow last year was 27.7 billion USD.
Capital investments were about 18 billion. Dividends paid were 10.5 billion.

If they skip the 2010 dividend and save that 10 billion, pay the US govt. 5 billion (the 20 billion is a four year committment I believe) they still have plenty of cash flow to keep investing (& drilling )

On the face of those numbers, I'm hard pressed to find a reason to grant them bankruptcy protection. But then, I'm not a "thou an hour" lawyer.

[Skid Row Joe]

Originally Posted by Pavka007

??? I don't follow you here. Everybody keep referring to BP as a British Company and now you want to put them under the protection of US government?? I don't really know who are the experts you trust but I wouldn't trust them on that one.

BP Headquarters are in London so how exactly this will happen?

The BP family of brands includes Amoco, ARCO, and BP gasolines, as well as am/pm retail outlets and Castrol motor oil in the US, so your experts are telling you that all those companies are going down??? BP is also the second largest gasoline marketer in the US. BP products and services are sold through 11,700 service stations around the country. So everybody going under federal protection?
WOW....looks like the ex USSR is reinvented in the US .....

Don't know what your talking about, as pertains to you quoting my post. I stated nonesuch in my two sentence post above.....

BP is a corporation - a corporation that is self-insured, (according to one source) doing business in the United States - under the laws of the United States....

They will soon run out of money i.e. their liabilities WILL LIKELY exceed their assets/cash-flow if this paying-out to purported victims persists.

Bankruptcy protection will be their only viable option if this occurs.....

[Pavka007]

Originally Posted by Jim B.

The United Sates Supreme Court has ruled within the last year (absolute truth being a 5-4 Supreme Court decision) that corporations are INDEED actual, real, persons.

Perhaps you missed that.

You are correct I did miss that but once again, this ruling will apply to US companies, as powerful as the US Supreme Court is, BP as a UK based company and... how should I say that....out of jurisdiction

So once again the whole situation is not as clear cut as Obama trying to make people believe. Mid election is coming....so much in stake.

DYNALOW above have a very valid point as well...

[Pavka007]

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

Don't know what your talking about, as pertains to you quoting my post. I stated nonesuch in my two sentence post above.....

BP is a corporation - a corporation that is self-insured, provided my sources are correct.

They will soon run out of money i.e. their liabilities WILL LIKELY exceed their assets/cash-flow if this paying-out to purported victims persists.

Bankruptcy protection will be their only viable option if this occurs.....

You two sentences as you call them are:

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

The sooner BP goes into Federal protection under bankruptcy law - the better for them. It looks inevitable to some experts I value opinions from.

So my posting is questioning your use as per your experts of the wording FEDERAL PROTECTION.
Is it clear now?

[Skid Row Joe]

Originally Posted by Jim B.

The United Sates Supreme Court has ruled within the last year (absolute truth being a 5-4 Supreme Court decision) that corporations are INDEED actual, real, persons.

Perhaps you missed that.

Most people do not know that I would surmise.

[Skid Row Joe]

Originally Posted by Pavka007

You two sentences as you call them are:



So my posting is questioning your use as per your experts of the wording FEDERAL PROTECTION.
Is it clear now?

No.

You stated; "Everybody keep referring to BP as a British Company....." I never stated such......

Originally Posted by Jim B.

The United Sates Supreme Court has ruled within the last year (absolute truth being a 5-4 Supreme Court decision) that corporations are INDEED actual, real, persons.

Perhaps you missed that.

I'm sure most people here understand the context of that ruling, it has very little to do with the current situation.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by Craig

I'm sure most people here understand the context of that ruling, it has very little to do with the current situation.

I am very sure the BP lawyers will try and put that spin on it.