You missed one extremely large fact. They paid shares dividends to anyone who held until August 19, so at least 243 million shares. That's about 2.7 million paid out. How did you miss that?
And don't try and use the ex date thing. Cash dividends of more than 25% of the stock's value are subject to Nasdaq rule 11140 b 2. I bought on the 18th, then sold on the 19th. I got paid. Case closed.