Each holder of the Company’s common stock is entitled to one vote per share on all matters to be voted upon by the Company’s shareholders. Upon any liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the Company, the holders of common stock are entitled to share equally in all assets available for distribution after payment of all liabilities, subject to the liquidation preference of shares of preferred stock, if any, then outstanding.

As a REIT, GEO is required to distribute annually at least 90% of its REIT taxable income (determined without regard to the dividends paid deduction and by excluding net capital gain) and began paying regular quarterly REIT dividends in 2013. The amount, timing and

frequency of future dividends, however, will be at the sole discretion of GEO's Board of Directors (the "Board”) and will be declared based upon various factors, many of which are beyond GEO's control, including, GEO's financial condition and operating cash flows, the amount required to maintain REIT status and reduce any income taxes that GEO otherwise would be required to pay, limitations on distributions in GEO's existing and future debt instruments, limitations on GEO's ability to fund distributions using cash generated through GEO's TRSs and other factors that GEO's Board may deem relevant.

During the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, GEO declared and paid the following regular cash distributions to its stockholders which were treated for federal income taxes as follows:

					Ordinary Dividends
Declaration Date	Payment Date	Record Date	Distribution Per Share		Qualified (1)		Non-Qualified		Nondividend Distributions (2)		Aggregate Payment Amount (millions)
February 5, 2018	February 27, 2018	February 16, 2018	$	0.47	$	0.046117	$	0.209022	$	0.2148609	$	58.3
April 11, 2018	May 3, 2018	April 23, 2018	$	0.47	$	0.046117	$	0.209022	$	0.2148609	$	57.4
July 10, 2018	July 27, 2018	July 20, 2018	$	0.47	$	0.046117	$	0.209022	$	0.2148609	$	57.2
October 15, 2018	November 2, 2018	October 26, 2018	$	0.47	$	0.046117	$	0.209022	$	0.2148609	$	57.2
February 4, 2019	February 22, 2019	February 15, 2019	$	0.48	$	—	$	0.2759699	$	0.2040301	$	57.9
April 3, 2019	April 22, 2019	April 15, 2019	$	0.48	$	—	$	0.2759699	$	0.2040301	$	58.2
July 9, 2019	July 26, 2019	July 19, 2019	$	0.48	$	—	$	0.2759699	$	0.2040301	$	58.2
October 14, 2019	November 1, 2019	October 25, 2019	$	0.48	$	—	$	0.2759699	$	0.2040301	$	58.2
February 3, 2020	February 21, 2020	February 14, 2020	$	0.48	$	—	$	0.2655802	$	0.2144198	$	58.2
April 6, 2020	April 24, 2020	April 17, 2020	$	0.48	$	—	$	0.2655802	$	0.2144198	$	58.5
July 7, 2020	July 24, 2020	July 17, 2020	$	0.48	$	—	$	0.2655802	$	0.2144198	$	58.5
October 6, 2020	October 23, 2020	October 16, 2020	$	0.34	$	—	$	0.1881193	$	0.1518807	$	41.5

On February 14, 2018, the Company announced that its Board authorized a stock buyback program authorizing the Company to repurchase up to a maximum of $200 million of its shares of common stock. The stock buyback program was funded primarily with cash on hand, free cash flow and borrowings under the Company's $900 million revolving credit facility (the "Revolver"). The program expired on October 20, 2020. The stock buyback program was intended to be implemented through purchases made from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, in accordance with applicable Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") requirements. The stock buyback program did not obligate the Company to purchase any specific amount of its common stock and could have been suspended or extended at any time at the discretion of the Company's Board. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company purchased 553,665 shares of its common stock at a cost of $9.0 million primarily purchased with proceeds from the Company’s Revolver. There were no purchases of the Company's common stock during the year ended December 31, 2019. During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company purchased 4,210,254 shares of its common stock at a cost of $95.2 million primarily purchased with proceeds from the Company's Revolver.

On October 30, 2020, the Company filed an automatic shelf registration on Form S-3 with the SEC that enables the Company to offer for sale, from time to time and as the capital markets permit, an unspecified amount of common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, guarantees

of debt securities, warrants and units. Each time the Company offers to sell securities, the Company will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering and the securities being offered. The shelf registration statement is automatically effective and is valid for three years.

In April 1994, the Company’s Board authorized 30 million shares of “blank check” preferred stock. The Board is authorized to determine the rights and privileges of any future issuance of preferred stock such as voting and dividend rights, liquidation privileges, redemption rights and conversion privileges. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, there were no shares of preferred stock outstanding.

The Company includes the results of operations and financial position of SACM or the “joint venture”, its majority-owned subsidiary, in its consolidated financial statements. SACM was established in 2001 to operate correctional centers in South Africa. The joint venture currently provides security and other management services for the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre in the Republic of South Africa under a 25-year management contract which commenced in February 2002. The Company’s and the joint venture partner’s shares in the profits of the joint venture are 88.75% and 11.25%, respectively. There were no changes in the Company’s ownership percentage of the consolidated subsidiary during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.