Distribution

The sale of securities. Also refers to a sum payable to shareholders representing their share of profits. A distribution of profits may be in cash or by additional shares.

A distribution is money a mutual fund pays its shareholders either from the dividends or interest it earns or from the capital gains it realizes on the sale of securities in its portfolio.

Unless you own the fund through a tax-deferred or tax-free account, you owe federal income tax on most distributions, the exception being interest income from municipal bond funds. That tax is due whether or not you reinvest the money to buy additional shares in the fund.

You'll owe tax at your regular rate on short-term gains and on income from interest. The tax on qualifying dividends and long-term gains is calculated at your long-term capital gains rate. Your end-of-year statement will indicate which income belongs to each category.

The term distribution is also used to describe certain actions a corporation takes. For example, if a corporation spins off a subsidiary as a standalone company, it will issue shares in that subsidiary to current stockholders. That's considered a distribution. Corporate dividends may also be described as distributions.

A cash payment or an annuity payment.

Process under a plan of reorganization wherein proceeds of an estate are paid to various classes of claimants.

The process of distributing electricity; usually defines that portion of a power provider's power lines between a power provider's power pole and transformer and a customer's point of connection/meter.

The transfer of electricity from the transmission network to the consumer.

A standard, bundled release of a system of software. The default usage implies source code is included. If that is not the case, it will be called a "binary-only" distribution.

In ISDN applications, the use of broadband transmission of audio or video information to the user without applying any post-production processing to the information. Note: "Distribution" is in contrast to "contribution."