Is Fabien Roussel right to say that France is “world champion” of dividends?

During his meeting, Sunday February 6, the communist candidate Fabien Roussel evoked “the money of multinationals, which make France the world champion in the payment of dividends in 2021. 137 billion euros, realize, in the midst of a pandemic“. Did the CAC 40 companies pay this sum to their shareholders last year?

Fabien Roussel actually mixes dividends and profits, as explained by Michel Ruimy, economist and member of Levy Capital Partner: “Profit is equal to profit. Not all profits are converted into dividends“. The Bloomberg agency had in fact estimated at 137 billion euros, for 2021, all the profits accumulated by the companies of the CAC 40. The shareholders of these companies received 69.4 billion euros the year While it is tricky to make a country-by-country comparison, France does indeed seem to be among the countries with the highest dividends in the world.