The divvie was bigger. 42c was an increase on the 30c dividend...

The divvie was bigger. 42c was an increase on the 30c dividend paid before hand.

Disciplined Capital Management is harder than most here seem to understand. The company has surplus funds at the time, buy backs were optimal because they allowed cash to be distributed a day at a time which meant if the coal price crashed overnight they could retain liquidity and survive the cycle. A giant dividend would've let all that cash go in one day.

Now they are using the funds for a value accretive deal which gives a far larger free-cash-flow for the company. FCF is optimal for evaluating returns to shareholders. Now we have the optionality of big dividends and big buy backs.