Microsoft CEO Ballmer to sell up to $2B in stock, 18% of stake |
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Microsoft CEO Ballmer to sell up to $2B in stock, 18% of stake
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement this afternoon that he plans to sell up to 75 million of his Microsoft shares by the end of the year to "gain financial diversification and to assist in tax planning." That would be about $2 billion in stock, or 18 percent of his previous holdings. He will remain one of the company's largest shareholders.
"Even though this is a personal financial matter, I want to be clear about this to avoid any confusion," Ballmer said in the statement. "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."
Congress is currently debating the future of the tax cuts put in place during the Bush administration, with the possibility that taxes on capital gains and dividends could rise to 20 percent or more from the current 15 percent if an extension isn't approved.
The 75 million shares would translate into 18 percent of the 408 million shares that Ballmer held as of the company's last proxy statement. At the time of the proxy, Ballmer owned 4.75 percent of the company's outstanding shares.
Based on the company's closing price of $26.85 today, the 75 million shares would be valued at approximately $2 billion, reducing the value of Ballmer's Microsoft holdings to approximately $8.9 billion if he were to sell the maximum number cited in his statement. Reuters reports that he has already made more than half of the planned sales in recent days, totaling $1.3 billion.
Ballmer last made a sale of Microsoft stock in 2003. Bill Gates remains the largest individual shareholder in the company. The Microsoft chairman routinely sells 80 million shares a year in a portfolio diversification strategy. As of the company's last proxy statement, Gates owned 621 million shares, or more than 7 percent of the company.
In the recent election, Ballmer contributed more than $400,000 to the successful campaign to defeat Initiative 1098, which would have imposed an income tax on people in the state earning more than $200,000 a year. Ballmer made $1.34 million in combined salary and bonus for the company's 2010 fiscal year.
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