Costco Wholesale Corporation Declares $30 Special Cash Dividend and Reauthorizes Stock Repurchase Program
The special dividend represents an approximately $13.3 billion payment to shareholders.
Sentiment and the balance of points
Rhea-AI Sentiment reads the wording of the document, how positive or negative its language is on a 1 to 5 scale. The balance of points shown with the takes weighs what the document actually discloses, so the two can disagree, for example when a trial that missed its main goal is described in upbeat language.
Rhea-AI Summary
Costco Wholesale (Nasdaq: COST) declared a special cash dividend of $30 per share, payable December 4, 2026. Shareholders of record at the close of business on November 24, 2026, will receive the dividend, with the total payment approximately $13.3 billion.
The board also reauthorized a common-stock repurchase program of up to $4 billion, expiring in November 2030. It replaces the $4 billion program adopted in 2023 and scheduled to expire in January 2027, under which Costco had purchased $3.1 billion of stock.
How this balance works
Rhea-AI gives every point it takes from this document a weight. Minor counts 1, Moderate 3 and Major 9, so one Major point outweighs several Minor ones. The bar adds up the weights on each side, and when neither side holds more than 65% of the total the balance reads Mixed.
It reads the document as published, with the same rules for every company, and it does not look at what the market expected or at how the stock traded, so a point can be objectively good on a day the stock falls.
Rhea-AI Sentiment measures something else, the tone of the wording.
Hollow bars mark forward-looking points. How the balance works
Positive
- Moderate point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.$30-per-share special cash dividend payable December 4, 2026, returns approximately $13.3 billion to shareholders. 2.8% of market cap
- Moderate point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.Up to $4 billion reauthorized for common-stock repurchases under a replacement program expiring in November 2030.
- Minor point$3.1 billion of stock purchased under the prior $4 billion repurchase program adopted in 2023.
Negative
- None.
News Explained
The
Key Figures
- Special cash dividend
- $30 per share
- Costco common stock
- Total dividend payment
- ≈$13.3 billion
- Company-stated total payment
- Payment date
- December 4, 2026
- Special cash dividend
- Record date
- November 24, 2026
- Shareholders of record at close of business
- Repurchase authorization
- Up to $4 billion
- Reauthorized common-stock repurchase program
- Program expiration
- November 2030
- Reauthorized repurchase program
- Replaced program authorization
- $4 billion
- Current program adopted in 2023; scheduled to expire January 2027
- Purchases under replaced program
- $3.1 billion
- Amount purchased under the current program
Historical Context
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Board declared a $1.47 quarterly dividend per share, payable November 13, to October 30 record holders.
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Key Terms
forward-looking statements regulatory
u.s. gaap financial
comparable sales financial
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
ISSAQUAH, Wash., Nov. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: COST) today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of
The Company also announced that the Board has reauthorized a common-stock repurchase program of up to
Costco currently operates 945 warehouses, including 653 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 115 in Canada, 43 in Mexico, 37 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, three in France, two in Sweden, and one each in Iceland, and New Zealand. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, and China.
Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For these purposes, forward-looking statements are statements that address activities, events, conditions or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions, including exchange rates, inflation or deflation, the effects of competition and regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and small business spending patterns and debt levels, breaches of security or privacy of member or business information, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, capital spending, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (generally including health-care costs and wages), workforce interruptions, energy and certain commodities, geopolitical conditions (including tariffs and global conflicts), the ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, regulatory and other impacts related to environmental and social matters, public-health related factors, and other risks identified from time to time in the Company’s public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company does not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law. Comparable sales and comparable sales excluding impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange are intended as supplemental information and are not a substitute for net sales presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
| CONTACTS: | Costco Wholesale Corporation |
| Josh Dahmen, 425/313-8254 | |
| Andrew Yoon, 425/313-6305 | |
| Bryan Starnes, 425/427-7403 |
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