SACRAMENTO, CA--(Marketwire -01/10/12)- Internet Patents Corporation (NASDAQ: PTNT), formerly InsWeb Corporation (NASDAQ: INSW - News), today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash distribution of $5.00 per share on the Company's common stock, for a total distribution payment of approximately $33 million based on the current shares outstanding.
"We are pleased to announce the special distribution for our shareholders. We have begun the operation of our new intellectual property-focused company and are excited by the licensing opportunities that we believe are available to us based on our strong portfolio of e-commerce and online insurance distribution patents," said Hussein Enan, Chairman and CEO of Internet Patents Corporation.
Special Distribution Information
The special distribution will be payable to shareholders of record as of February 10, 2012 and will be paid on March 9, 2012. As of January 4, 2012, the Company had 6,608,967 shares of its common stock outstanding and 1,403,027 in outstanding and exercisable options. The special distribution follows the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of InsWeb Corporation relating to its insurance lead generation and marketing business by Bankrate, Inc., via a transaction that closed on December 21, 2011. The Board made a determination regarding the size of the distribution based on its current assessment of the working capital needs in connection with the development and operation of the Company's new Patent Licensing Business, among other factors. The distributions made in the 2012 fiscal year will be treated as dividends to the extent of the Company's current earnings and profits for the 2012 fiscal year for U.S. federal income tax purposes. To the extent the distributions made in the 2012 fiscal year exceed the Company's current earnings and profits, the distributions will constitute a return of capital to the extent of the shareholder's tax basis and then will be treated as gain from the sale of the common stock. The Company will provide further direction on the potential tax treatment of the distribution for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
In addition, the Board plans to evaluate the potential to make another special cash distribution to its stockholders pending the determination of several items related to the Bankrate transaction including a working capital adjustment and transaction-related expenses, as well as the outcome of the Company's efforts to further optimize its ongoing expense structure.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Internet-Patents-Corporation-iw-1399356117.html?x=0
Wow, $5/share dividend?!!? Sounds too good to be true, anyone have any opinions on this? Never really went for a dividend play, but this seems interesting
