I took a break from World Cup Soccer (Bafana Bafana!) long enough to run across a BBC report that the dividend payment BP is due to make to its shareholders around June 26 is going to be suspended. On Monday, the board of BP will meet to formalize this. And the Beeb is saying that US government pressure brought this about.
Here’s the full story.
Robert Peston, who is a BBC correspondent in the US posted, "It looks increasingly likely that dividend payments will be ceased for a period - because of the intense pressure to do so from senior US politicians and the White House."
That means the Obama administration is twisting arms. That means that literally billions of dollars that would have gone to shareholders will be available to fix the mess in the Gulf. So, shut up about Obama not doing anything!
The British press has made a big deal out of how much UK pensions depend on BP dividends and share price, but the fact is that this is the hand of Rupert Murdoch (he owns the Times and the Sun as well as Sky TV over there)
National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) spokesperson Ros Altmann said "For people already drawing a pension it doesn't really have much impact. For people saving for a pension, what we're talking about here is one quarter's dividend perhaps not being paid, certainly initially. It will only have an impact on people who are coming up to retirement immediately and will then have to convert their pension fund into a pension straight away, then the value of that pension fund will be less."
Do you think this might be because CEO Tony Hayward has to see Barack Obama face to face next week?
OK, France v. Uruguay, must run!