Share the wealth
Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer plans to flog up to $2bn of stock in the software giant and has already offloaded some 50 million shares, in a bid to cut his tax bill.
According to Business Week, Ballmer held around 408 million shares before the transaction, which was the first in 7 years within Microsoft. He reportedly plans to sell another 25m shares, which would mean he could reap around $2bn in total.
Ballmer's deal came to light in an SEC filing that said he has sold $1.34bn worth of stock on 3-5 November at prices between $26 and $27.20 per share. According to Barron's, after he sold 49.3 million shares, Ballmer still has 358.9 million shares.
Meanwhile, in another set of SEC filings, Bill Gates has reportedly sold 3 million shares worth around $82m, Barrons' said. He reportedly still holds over 617 million shares in the company he founded.
In a statement, Ballmer said his decision to offload so many shares was for diversification and tax planning purposes and was definitely not because Microsoft is in trouble.
"Even though this is a personal financial matter, I want to be clear about this to avoid any confusion. 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," he said.
Ballmer's decision to sell his shares coincides with Microsoft's increased use of dividends and buybacks to reward shareholders, who have seen the software giant's stock falter this year, Business Week reported.
Microsoft reportedly boosted its dividend by 23 percent in September and the company got the go ahead to buy back almost $24bn of shares in June.
At the close of trading on Friday, just after the SEC filings were revealed, Microsoft Corp fell by 1.07 percent to $26.85 a share on The Dow Jones.
