GOLD: $1 special dividend hits short sellers with a payment-in-lieu bill

Gold.com, Inc. declared a $1.00 per-share special cash dividend on September 2, 2026, payable September 28. This is a one-off payout on top of any regular dividend — holders on the record date receive the full amount in cash.

Short sellers face the opposite side of that trade. With 16.3% of the free float currently sold short, a substantial number of borrowed shares are in play. Shorts must pay a payment in lieu — a cash amount equal to the dividend owed to the lender of each borrowed share — directly out of pocket on the payable date. At $1.00 per share and roughly 3.2 million shares shorted, that aggregate liability is meaningful. Cost to borrow sits at 0.56% annualised, so the borrow itself is cheap, but the dividend payment-in-lieu is an immediate, unavoidable cash cost regardless of borrow rate.