In actuality, however, the company's stock price would decrease on the ex-dividend date by about the same amount of the dividend to eliminate this form of arbitrage. So, if you purchased stock before the ex-dividend date you would get the $1 cash dividend, but this would be offset by the simultaneous $1 drop in the stock price. Thus, buying a stock before a dividend is paid and selling after it is received has absolutely no value except a partial return of the capital invested in the stock in the first place.