A finely divided acicular CrO.sub.2 modified with iron, tellurium and/or antimony and having a high coercive force possesses improved heat stability of the residual induction and a relatively narrow distribution of the particle size and of the coercive force. This CrO.sub.2 pigment is obtained by a method in which the iron compound used for the modification is iron oxalate, which is employed in an amount of 1-10% by weight, based on the theoretical CrO.sub.2 yield.