

Steve Ballmer sells about $1.3 billion in shares of Microsoft - ssclafani
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A501K20101106

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MiguelHudnandez
He presumably made the statements to keep the sale from affecting the stock
price in a bad light. Ironically, I think the stock may perform better if
Ballmer did not claim he was sticking around.

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abraham
Reuters has a very misleading title: "Microsoft's Ballmer sells 12 percent
stake in company". In actuality it is 12% of Ballmer's 4.2%.

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davi
And when that's still $1.3 billion dollars, you know you have built a very big
company.

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rbanffy
> you know you have built a very big company.

Or, at least, a very overvalued one.

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ojbyrne
I suspect there's a lot of people selling shares, just because of the
possibility of the tax rate on long term capital gains going up at the end of
the year.

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icey
Here is the official statement regarding the stock sale:
[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2010/nov10/11-05Sta...](http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2010/nov10/11-05Statement.mspx)

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thought_alarm
"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," said Ballmer, from an undisclosed
island in the South Pacific.

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mkramlich
alright everybody: tonight, drinks are on Ballmer!

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Zaak
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbH-U2b_EsQ>

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goalieca
Microsoft pays $0.16 in dividends per share per quater and their share price
is ~ $27. That's about 2.3% anually. Not bad.. but long term i would bet
against microsoft stock.

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aurora72
It looks like he no longer sees a bright future, maybe.

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patio11
Long term capital gains tax cuts sunset after 2010, right? My back of the
envelope math is that if he waits one nanosecond after midnight on December
31st he gets to pay Uncle Sam an extra $65 million. I can think of things that
I'd rather do with the money -- I'm guessing he can, too.

Incentives change behavior.

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staunch
Then maybe the company should award him $65 million in shares to compensate.
Or he should take the hit -- he can certainly afford it. It's not a good time
for Microsoft to have the CEO selling such a large stake. It looks like he's
leaving and/or doesn't have confidence.

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d2viant
Him giving the appearance of leaving would not be a bad thing.

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staunch
Without a successor it's not great. The devil you know...

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chc
The devil we know has managed to take a company so successful that people
considered it a threat to the entire industry and bring it to the brink of
irrelevance, kept alive only by a nearly automatic revenue stream from
entrenched 20-year-old software. An honor-roll high school student stepping in
for Ballmer would probably be met with guarded optimism.

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bmelton
There's a lot of speculation going on, and that's fair, I suppose, but isn't
it possible that he just saw a record quarter, and realized that if he were
going to cash out some shares, now is a good time?

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chadp
he is a deca billionaire and just in his mid 50s. Great to see.

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chailatte
Not too surprising, considering these past few months insiders have been
selling tons of shares.

Insider Selling To Buying Update: 2,019 To 1 <http://bit.ly/cTZ9uq>

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some1else
Expecting a bad quarter, or bad future?

Interesting list and rankings

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RtodaAV
Don't see a bad quarter happening.

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megablast
Don't see a bad quarter, they just had record profits, but I do see the stock
market losing confidence in Microsoft's ability to grow.

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rbanffy
With their main cash cows being Windows and Office, both with close to 100%
market share, it's not very reasonable to expect a huge growth.

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bhiggins
this is a good time given the boost that QE2 has given the stock market.

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Kilimanjaro
Like a rat deserting a sinking ship?

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pjscott
He's still 88% on the ship; he sold only a fraction of his Microsoft stock.

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rbanffy
How much could he sell before crashing the prices?

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RBr
Anyone want to take a bet? My money says he either follows Stephen Elop to
Nokia or competes with him at another core mobile company.

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cubicle67
You mean Ballmer voluntarily leaving MS to go somewhere else? no way on earth

