Stock Distribution of shares

[Travis40]

Hi, 

I had 500 shares of stock (Sina Corp) that had two stock distributions of stock of Weibo Corp.  I received 50 shares of Weibo with each distribution.  The Sina Corp later went private and cashed out my shares in 2021. I still have my stock in the Weibo Corp. (100 shares)  My question is do I need to do anything special to figure out the cost basis of the Sina Stock? Do I just find the price of the stock purchase price and the price of the stock on the day it went private? Not sure how the stock distributions affect the cost basis of the Sina Stock.  

Thanks

[Mike9241 · Accepted solution]

if the WB distribution was taxable then your basis for Sina would not change from the original

if it was a tax-free distribution then your cost/tax basis is supposed to be allocated. there is no one absolutely correct method

maybe WB or Sina sent the shareholders info on tax basis allocation on each distribution

if not then here are two methods

1st distribution

fair market value at the end of the day of the distribution for WB (a)

same for Sina (b)

basis allocated to WB original tax basis of SINA times (a) divided by the sum of (a) + (b)

basis allocated to Sina - total original basis less above or tax basis of SINA times (b) divided by the sum of (a) + (b) (They should be the same)

do the same for the second distribution but take into a/c that your original tax basis for SINA was reduced by the tax basis allocated to WB on the first distribution 

another method: use the average of the opening and closing prices for the two stocks on the distribution dates.

announcement about the distributions 

https://www.investors.com/news/technology/chinas-sina-announces-distribution-of-weibo-shares/ 

 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sina-announces-distribution-of-weibo-shares-300464527.html 

webpage to get WB prices

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WB/history?period1=1451606400&period2=1483142400&interval=1d&filter=... 

could not find a webpage for SINA however, it did trade on the NASDAQ