RE:January 18 is the date for shareholders of recordYou must be a shareholder of Record on January to qualify for the Feb 1 special dividend.
As it takes two days for such ownership record to be certified, and with January 18 the date of record for purposes of qualifying for the dividend, I think my interpretation of the requirements is correct.
If I am wrong , then I apologize and you can post the correct interpretation of the date of Record