
Steve Ballmer Now Owns More Microsoft Stock Than Bill Gates - a_olt
http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/02/steve-ballmer-now-owns-more-microsoft-stock-than-bill-gates/
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jedberg
> What will be interesting to watch will be how quickly Microsoft’s new CEO,
> Satya Nadella, can accumulate stock in the company. Various performance
> bands that comprise a large portion of his compensation could net him nearly
> nine-figure equity in his first half decade in charge,

That's not a bad compensation package...

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antidaily
Not at all. Is he worth it?

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techsupporter
So far, yes, apparently.

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Tloewald
You have to give credit to both MS's board and Steve Ballmer that they clearly
held back on announcements until the new guy took over, so he could hit the
ground running, but clearly a lot of the things he's been credited with were
done under Ballmer (and I am not one to give credit to Ballmer lightly).

Still, he's clearly been a good pick (so far) simply based on perception.

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techsupporter
Agreed. One doesn't simply wizard up Office for iPad in a couple of months
(weeks?) or however long it was between SteveB's departure and the
announcement. That said, almost all of them could have come out a year earlier
or could have achieved a higher priority while under Ballmer's tenure. Perhaps
Ballmer leaving gave a freer hand to those projects.

Either way, the people running Microsoft clearly want Nadella to succeed as an
individual and they apparently want Microsoft to succeed as a company, given
the business shift over the past few months.

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DodgyEggplant
A better way to phrase it maybe: Gates is deep into the next new thing. It
seems weird now, but maybe for future generations Gates will be remembered
more for his post MSFT era.

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Tloewald
If he wipes out or seriously reduces malaria (which is what he's been openly
pursuing for ten years or more) then that alone will establish his place in
the pantheon of philanthropists.

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elwell
That's because Ballmer couldn't sell much while he was CEO (that would look
very bad).

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jmspring
If I recall rightly, I recall Ballmer mentioning he was actively buying
shares...But my recollection may be fuzzy (it was a year or two ago when I
recall hearing it).

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boomzilla
Actually, unless Ballmer has some grand plan that needs a lot of capital,
holding MSFT is not a bad idea at all. With more than 300M shares, he gets a
yearly dividend of roughly 350M USD which is only taxed at most 20% as
qualified dividend.

Well, even if he needs capital, I am sure he can get debt at much more
favorable rate than the tax he would have to pay if he sold the shares. The
only argument for selling is if he wants to diversify.

Another example is the Walton family: they still keep >50% ownership of
Walmart and live off the dividend.

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jmspring
Right or wrong decision making, Ballmer was all in with MSFT.

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nly
Well... he loves that company.

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elwell
Especially the... DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!

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adventured
This article doesn't go there, but many before it have made a big deal about
Gates' endless selling of Microsoft stock. The fact that it's still a
headline, points to the sensationalism that has surrounded this topic for
years.

Gates no doubt cares a lot about Microsoft's well being, but much like Jobs,
he doesn't need stock to exercise his influence. His #1 task financially these
days (the last decade plus), is to protect his $80 billion in wealth. Articles
like to sensationalize the selling for clicks, but it's strictly logical to
diversify out of his formerly concentrated MSFT position, and to ultimately
balance risk vs returns, with the goal in mind to maximize how much wealth he
can give away through the foundation.

Given his priorities, having $13 billion (16% of his net worth) tied up in
Microsoft is still a sizable concentration. I would suspect he'll sell that
down to $4 to $8 billion before eventually holding a token position (for him).
I also expect Ballmer will shortly begin a modestly aggressive plan to reduce
his Microsoft position.

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arfliw
Nobody knows what Bill Gates did with all of the money he got selling his MSFT
shares over time, just that he put them into Cascade Investments - his
investment vehicle. Very odd that you never read about him buying stock or
companies or real estate. If he's invested that money well, he could be worth
a hell of a lot more than Forbes estimates.

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subdane
I wonder what Ballmer does now.

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irremediable
At Oxford, a couple of months ago, he gave his first public talk since
retiring as CEO. There he mentioned he's currently not doing much, but he's
researching a few problems to do with governance, healthcare and the
environment. He said he doesn't want to try to do anything like Microsoft
again, because anything like that would inevitably pale in comparison. He
seemed more interested in charity/politics/similar.

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Tloewald
Sounds good. Sounds a _lot_ better than setting up a patent trolling empire or
building a company around a half-assed Hypercard clone.

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_random_
...or investing in Monsanto.

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floodcow
This statement only proves that Bill Gates is the smarter guy :)

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wahsd
There is just plain something screwed up with a system that rewards someone
like Steve Ballmer with any kind of stocks whatsoever, let alone fire him
before he has a chance to ruin all kinds of sure things.

