Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

v3.20.1
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Equity [Abstract]  
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
Acquisition of AK Steel
As more fully described in NOTE 3 - ACQUISITION OF AK STEEL, we acquired AK Steel on March 13, 2020. At the effective time of the Merger, each share of AK Steel common stock issued and outstanding prior to the effective time of the Merger was converted into, and became exchangeable for, 0.400 Cliffs common shares, par value $0.125 per share. We issued a total of 126.8 million Cliffs common shares in connection with the Merger at a fair value of $617.6 million. Following the closing of the Merger, AK Steel's common stock was de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange.
Dividends
The below table summarizes our recent dividend activity:    
Declaration Date
 
Record Date
 
Payment Date
 
Dividend Declared per Common Share1
2/18/2020
 
4/3/2020
 
4/15/2020
 
$
0.06

12/2/2019
 
1/3/2020
 
1/15/2020
 
$
0.06

9/3/2019
 
10/4/2019
 
10/15/2019
 
$
0.10

5/31/2019
 
7/5/2019
 
7/15/2019
 
$
0.06

2/19/2019
 
4/5/2019
 
4/15/2019
 
$
0.05

10/18/2018
 
1/4/2019
 
1/15/2019
 
$
0.05


1 The dividend declared on September 3, 2019 included a special cash dividend of $0.04 per common share.
Subsequent to the dividend paid on April 15, 2020, our Board temporarily suspended future dividends as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to preserve cash during this time of economic uncertainty.
Preferred Stock
We have 3,000,000 Class A preferred shares authorized and 4,000,000 Class B preferred shares authorized; no preferred shares are issued or outstanding.
Share Repurchase Program
In November 2018, our Board authorized a program to repurchase outstanding common shares in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, up to a maximum of $200 million, excluding commissions and fees. In April 2019, our Board increased the common share repurchase authorization by an additional $100 million, excluding commissions and fees. During the three months ended March 31, 2019, we repurchased 11.5 million common shares at a cost of $124.3 million in the aggregate, including commissions and fees. The share repurchase program was effective until December 31, 2019.