MICROSOFT chief executive Steve Ballmer has sold 49.3 million shares in the company

Ballmer, 54, confirmed in a statement he's “selling some of his holdings of Microsoft stock to gain financial diversification and to assist in tax planning before the end of the calendar year”.

He stressed that the move should not be seen as a lack of confidence in the software giant and he remained “fully committed” to the company.

Microsoft said Ballmer held about 408 million shares in Microsoft before the latest sale and plans to sell up to 75 million shares by the end of the year.

According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Ballmer sold 21.87 million shares, 14.35 million shares and 13.12 million shares between Wednesday and Friday last week.

He currently holds 358.91 million shares in Microsoft worth about $US9.64 billion ($A9.52 billion), or 4.2 per cent of the company.

Ballmer is the second-largest Microsoft shareholder after founder Bill Gates, who sold three million shares of his own this week worth about $US54.5 million ($A53.85 million).

“Even though this is a personal financial matter, I want to be clear about this to avoid any confusion,” Ballmer said. “I am excited about our new products and the potential for our technology to change people's lives, and I remain fully committed to Microsoft and its success.”
Microsoft shares closed on Wall Street at $US26.85 on Friday.

anyone know why Monkey Man would sell his shares for? only reason i can think of is maybe his gonna get the boot
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/aust...-1225948952620

[leigh123linux]

Originally Posted by detox

anyone know why Monkey Man would sell his shares for? only reason i can think of is maybe his gonna get the boot
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/aust...-1225948952620

Perhaps the guilt of selling crapware has got to much for him

Originally Posted by leigh123linux

Perhaps the guilt of selling crapware has got to much to for him

my guess is he's gonna get the boot from CEO an selling his shares he wont have anything to do with the company

[steelaworkn]

I can think of a couple reasons:

1. Saturate the market with MS stock
2. Bring stock price down
3. More people will buy the stock
4. A couple months, the stock price goes back up
5. More rich people in the world
6. More rich people to spend money
7. Economy improves because more rich people are spending money (preferably on MS products)

Long story short, he is doing his part to pump up the economy without deflating the dollar or printing money.

[smr54]

There was also the issue of Washington state considering implementing a state income tax.


http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/...sh-In-Billions

[JamesNZ]

He's probably anticipating the fall of his $$$

[LittleOne]

Maggie Muggins and Howdy Doody getting out before the great fall of 2024...

[dragonbite]

Originally Posted by detox

my guess is he's gonna get the boot from CEO an selling his shares he wont have anything to do with the company

I've been saying for a while that Microsoft would awaken at some point, but the need to blow out the "old guard" and old way of thinking and bring in some fresh blood and fresh ideas if they are going to "make it".

I also figured that things for Microsoft would have to look very bleak before they would boot anybody out, and right now they are not looking good;

• Windows 7 has stemmed the losses from Vista, and now is recovering the losses
• Windows 7 Phone is not the market-shattering product Microsoft is known for promoting
• Windows 7 Phone has no "killer app" to make people want to use it over the iOS/Android or RIM (WebOS isn't back yet).
• Office is losing some ground to OpenOffice.org and Google Docs
• Is there anything new coming down the "pipe"?

It's a tough situation for them, becasue they have to support legacy while trying to innovate and frankly I don't know if they have the vision. I'm sure, too, they are taking a look at what is happening with Oracle and realizing that open source is not so easily destroyed.

[LittleOne]

When I think of microsoft, all I can recall is all the bullying, the outrageous expenses, the grief, the OS hacks, the 150 destroyed operating systems.. Everytime I logged a client's freshly repaired PC into microsoft's update pages the OS got destroyed.. It cost me hundreds of hours and dollars... Then there's the time I logged into hotmail, and saw an advert at the bottom of the hotmail login page about earning a quick $3-grand.. I linked to it, and it seemed to be a piramidish chainletterish thing.. I posted in the reply box "This thing looks like a piramid scam".. Suddenly my hd was hit with an early version of what seemed to be the "Storm" e-virus, which totally instantly nuked the OS.. but I had done a backup two days before, so I lost only a few easily replacable notes and about ten basic pix-edits, and my hotmail account was suddenly closed... Bully the Innocent, eah..? We'll show you corporate bullies.. I'll boycott you.. as will my family, my friends, and everyone else we know you've bullied... We've had Enough! of your microsoft pain!.. I wouldn't do anything to help microsoft in any way after all the hurts they laid on me... It's good to read that the crawlies are abandonning ship"... It'll be enjoyable to watch that battleship ship sink into oblivion...