A thorough bonding analysis is performed on the dication [C 6 (CH 3 ) 6 SO] 2+ . The results show that the molecule is best described in terms of covalent interactions between the cations C 6 (CH3) 6 + and SO + , whereby the bonding consists of two dominating contributions. The strongest bonding comes from dative interaction from the HOMO of C 6 (CH 3 ) 6 + to the LUMO of SO + , which has overall σ symmetry. The second significant component is due to electron-sharing bonding between the singly occupied orbitals of the two fragments. The bonding situation may be sketched with the formula [C6(CH)6-→SO]2+. The bare dication is thermodynamically unstable with regard to dissociation into two cations. It is kinetically stable due to the activation barrier, and it is further stabilized by counterions.