dschobel, when you short a stock, YOU are responsible for paying the dividend to the person you borrowed it from, c.f. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_%28finance%29" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_%28finance%29</a><p>That's why investors can't make an infinite amount of money by shorting stocks right prior to the dividend date...