Apple's announcement of its first dividend in over a decade sent its stock even further upward this week. Apple last paid a dividend in 1995, which is before Steve Jobs had even returned to the company he founded. Now, stockholders can expect to get $2.65 a share each quarter for the foreseeable future.
It's not unusual for high-tech companies to refrain from offering dividends. Fast-growing companies generally don't pay out dividends until they become settled, profitable businesses, so there's some sense among tech companies that only those that are past their primes pay out dividends. Google, for example, doesn't pay a dividend, even though it has roughly $45 billion in cash on hand. Amazon.com, Dell and eBay also don't pay dividends.
Paying out the dividend doesn't figure to slow Apple down very much. The first year's payout will cost the company roughly $10 billion. Meanwhile, over its last fiscal year, Apple's cash hoard grew by $31 billion.
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