Shanda Games Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Chinese online gaming specialist Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME  ) fell as much as 14% overnight on fairly heavy volume.

So what: Shanda Games jumped sky-high at the end of November as the company announced an insanely generous $1.02 special dividend per depositary share. Today, the stock gives back the dividend-fueled price boost as the ex-dividend date rolls by -- buying shares today won't land you a 20% yield anymore.

Now what: The company ordered up this special dividend because its cash balance outstripped short-term capital needs. I have to wonder if Shanda couldn't have found a better use of $285 million, such as buying smaller rival The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY  ) or pumping up game development efforts. The spun-out gaming arm of media empire Shanda Interactive Entertainment (Nasdaq: SNDA  ) has seen share prices fall 33% over the last year; we're not exactly talking about a machine firing on all cylinders here.

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