Streszczenie
The main objective of this paper is to present the results of empirical research on the evolution of short-term market value of companies as a result of cash dividend payments of the industrial companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In the theoretical part of the paper, the essence of dividend has been presented. Moreover, it shows the cash dividend payments as an income to the shareholders and the specific type of cost of raising the equity by the company. In the empirical part, there were shown the results of studies on changes of market shares’ prices in „ex-dividend” day and on the day of cash dividend payment. The study showed that the cash dividend payments reduce the market value of companies on the date on which they become income to the shareholder, and do not on the day when they are cost of equity incurred by the company.