Plenty of companies have initiated one-time dividends. Satellite TV operator EchoStar (NASDAQ:DISH) did so in 2004; drugmaker Biovail (NYSE:BVF) offered a small one-time dividend in December. The most famous one-time payout, though, is probably Microsoft 's (NASDAQ:MSFT) $33 billion present to shareholders in the winter of 2004, in the form of a $3 per share payout.