Steve Ballmer Now Owns More Microsoft Stock Than Bill Gates | Hacker News Reader

Steve Ballmer Now Owns More Microsoft Stock Than Bill Gates

techcrunch.com

70 pointsa_olt30 comments

> 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...

Not at all. Is he worth it?

So far, yes, apparently.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

> yearly dividend of roughly 350M USD

Wow, didn't think about that!

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

Well... he loves that company.

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

I believe that if held more than a year, his stock is a long term capital gain and also only taxed at 20%.

Not really. He's owed stock for what, 30 years? He could've said that starting from January 20xx (2 years after this announcements) I will automatically sell XX Million shares a year for diversification purposes.

But why give the IRS and the state 50% of it via taxes? He gets a nice chunk in dividends at very low taxes. And the mega rich borrow against the stock so when they die that debt is taken out from the estate without paying taxes. (Ellison got an earful from his accountant for doing so, lotsa debt and refusing to sell his shares. If the stock crashes, you're royally f-ed as the bank demands new collateral...death spiral etc etc)

And what is he going to do with all that money?

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.

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.

I wonder what Ballmer does now.

Tweats from his iPhone? http://gizmodo.com/looks-like-steve-ballmers-first-tweets-ar...

Turns out this was a fake account

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.

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

...or investing in Monsanto.

Checking out the Warriors as of a few days ago:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmcFXWkCUAACxtJ.jpg:large

Although, he could've been checking out the Clippers now that Sterling is going to be forced to sell...

For years he's been trying desperately to buy an NBA team and bring it back to Seattle to revive the stolen Sonics. So far each time he has tried, (the Sacremento Kings, Minnesota T-wolves, among others) a local billionaire or the hometown has stepped in to deflect his offers.

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/steve-ballmer-nba/

Maybe he can get the Clippers now?

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

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.

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