‘Nothing Lasts Forever’: The City Mourns Shell’s Giant Dividend
- Anglo-Dutch giant reduced dividend for first time since WW II
- Shell’s move highlights turbulence buffeting Big Oil
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The unthinkable took another step toward the new normal when Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Britain’s most valuable company, reduced its payout to shareholders for the first time since at least the Second World War.
The cut is another watershed moment for an oil industry coping with tectonic shifts in global commerce even before the shock from the coronavirus pandemic and the fallout of a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. For yield-hungry money managers running the City of London’s pension funds, Shell’s giant dividend has provided a reliable income through decades of oil busts and financial crises. That ended on Thursday.