Today is the last day to get the dividend (or possibly tomorrow), conversely, if you sell today, you don't get the dividend
The MSN Board of Directors declared an extraordinary cash dividend of $0.70 per common share payable on September 30, 2014 to shareholders of record of the Company at the close of trading on September 12, 2014. Since the stock is trading near the $2 range, this = a 35% dividend.
For a dividend of 25% or greater of the value of the security the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) indicates that the ex-dividend date is the first business day following the payable date, which in this case is Sept 30. The ex-dividend date is the date the security trades without its dividend and if the security is bought on this date it is not eligible for the dividend. But because of the T+3 rule, it takes 3 days from the transaction for the stock purchase to be entered into the companies books. Therefore, in this case, the stock has to be bought 3 business days prior to the payable day, which would be Sept 25.
When a company declares a special dividend of 25% or greater they are not required to state that the actual ex-dividend date is the first business day following the payable date. They can just state the date that would apply for a normal dividend. Most companies do this and so people that sell on that date do not receive the dividend. In this case, anyone that sells today, or earlier, such as Sept 12 as stated by the company, will not receive the dividend. (It could be that it is tomorrow that you can still buy and get the dividend, but to be safe do it today, and do not sell today, or if you sold previously, buy back today.)
