Dillard’s Announces Special Dividend, Marking Largest Payout in Company History

Dillard's headquarters in Little Rock (Maggie McLemore)

It’s going to be a good start to 2025 for members of the Dillard family. Last month, Dillard’s Inc. announced that the retailer’s board declared a special dividend of $25 per share on the Class A and Class B common stock of the company. That’s the largest amount in the company’s history.

The dividend will be paid on Jan. 6 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 13.

That will mean a big payday for the family members who own shares of the department store chain. Here’s how many shares family members had an ownership interest in as of Dec. 3, according to the latest U.S. Securities & Exchange filings, and how much they will receive:

► Dillard CEO William Dillard II, 906,992; $22.6 million.

► President Alex Dillard, 1,061,998; $26.5 million.

► Executive Vice President Mike Dillard, 536,307; $13.4 million.

► Executive Vice President Drue Matheny, 445,021; $11.1 million.

► Denise Mahaffy, senior vice president, 163,007; $4 million. Alex Dillard, Mike Dillard, Drue Matheny and Denise Mahaffy are all siblings.

► William Dillard III, senior vice president, 252,375; $6.3 million. He is the son of the CEO.

► And Alex Dillard’s daughters, Alexandra Lucie and Annemarie Jazic, who are each a vice president, will also receive dividend payments. Lucie owns 93,340 shares and will receive $2.3 million. Jazic owns 94,648 shares and will receive $2.3 million.

Those family shares are held by W.D. Co., which has 4.034 million shares. W.D. Co. will receive $100.8 million from the special dividend.

Six members of the Dillard family sit on the 15-member board. And the Dillard family controls the board because of the family’s ownership of nearly all of the Class B shares, which allows them to elect 10 of the 15 members.

Meanwhile, Dillard’s Inc. also reported last month that its third-quarter profit of $124.6 million was down 19.76% from the same quarter last year.

The department store chain also reported a 4% drop in total retail sales compared with the same period last year, marking the seventh straight quarter of sales declines. Its stock price was trading around $450 Wednesday morning.

Still, in a joint statement last month about the dividend, William Dillard II and Alex Dillard said, “Rewarding shareholders is important to us, particularly because the majority of our shareholders are also our associates. Their exceptional efforts and our loyal customers have helped make today’s announcement possible. Today is another great day at Dillard’s.”