Costco will pay a $30 special dividend, $13.3 billion, more than its entire annual regular payout five times over

Costco Wholesale said Tuesday after the close that its board declared a one-time cash dividend of $30 a share, payable Dec. 4 to shareholders of record on Nov. 24. The company puts the total at about $13.3 billion, according to its 8-K and press release on SEC EDGAR. It also reauthorized a stock repurchase program of up to $4 billion, running to November 2030.

The stock closed at $1,066.14 on Tuesday and $1,087.61 on Wednesday, up 2.0%. At 9:26 AM ET Thursday it traded near $1,096, according to Nasdaq. The $30 is about 2.7% of that price.

The number behind the number

The press release gives the total but not what it means for the balance sheet. Costco's 10-K for the year ended Aug. 30 fills that in. These are the filing's figures, and the comparisons are ours:

Subtracting $13.3 billion from the August cash and short-term investments leaves roughly $8.0 billion. That is a simple subtraction against a balance sheet that is now more than two months old. It ignores cash Costco has generated since Aug. 30, and the 10-K is the last audited snapshot we have. The next one arrives with the quarterly report for the period ending in late November.

For scale, Costco's regular quarterly dividend is $1.47 a share, or $5.88 a year, according to Nasdaq's dividend history. The special payment equals about 5.1 years of regular dividends in one check. The share count in the 10-K, 443.1 million, multiplied by $30 gives $13.29 billion, which matches the company's figure.

What the buyback change does and does not do

The new $4 billion authorization replaces a program adopted in 2023 that was due to expire in January 2027. Costco says $3.1 billion of that program had been used, so about $0.9 billion was left. Fiscal 2026 repurchases were $848 million, a fraction of the dividend. Authorizations are ceilings, not commitments, and the release sets no pace.

Who gets what

A holder of 100 shares receives $3,000 before tax; 10 shares, $300. The release says nothing about how the payment will be taxed, and we have not seen Costco's guidance on it, so shareholders should check with a tax adviser. Shares bought after the Nov. 24 record date do not carry the payment. Nasdaq lists Nov. 24 as the ex-dividend date for the special payout. Holders should expect the price to adjust for the payout on that date, all else equal, because the cash leaves the company.

For a business owner, the more practical read is on Costco's own finances. A retailer that can hand back $13.3 billion and still hold roughly $8 billion in cash is telling suppliers and landlords it is not short of money. Smaller competitors, such as the 109,039 independent grocery and convenience stores in our directory, do not have that cushion when negotiating with the same distributors.

What we are watching

• Nov. 24: record and ex-dividend date. The stock's opening move that day shows how much of the payout the market had already priced in.
• Costco's next quarterly report, for the first fiscal quarter, for the actual cash balance after the payment is funded.
• Whether the company keeps the regular dividend growing. It rose from $1.30 to $1.47 a share in the 2026 quarterly payments, according to Nasdaq.

Sources: Costco Wholesale 8-K and Exhibit 99.1 (Nov. 10, 2026) and 10-K (fiscal year ended Aug. 30, 2026) via SEC EDGAR; Nasdaq quote and dividend history for COST; Yahoo Finance closing prices. Some data may be delayed. This is market information, not investment advice.