4 ms·

I think the most telling evidence of Bill Gates satisfaction level is on the following page: http://biz.yahoo.com/t/38/567.html http://biz.yahoo.com/t/38/567.h

by maeon3 14y ago

I think the most telling evidence of Bill Gates satisfaction level is on the following page: http://biz.yahoo.com/t/38/567.html http://biz.yahoo.com/t/38/567.html 6-Feb-13 3,189,267 MSFT Automatic Sale at $27.44 per share. (Proceeds of $87,513,486) 5-Feb-13 3,810,733 MSFT Automatic Sale at $27.56 per share. (Proceeds of $105,023,801) 4-Feb-13 3,000,000 MSFT Automatic Sale at $27.64 per share. (Proceeds of $82,920,000) 1-Feb-13 5,500,000 MSFT Automatic Sale at $27.87 per share. (Proceeds of $153,285,000) 31-Jan-13 4,500,000 MSFT Automatic Sale at $27.50 per share. (Proceeds of $123,750,000) We are in a world drowning in words, follow the money, it does not lie.

OGinparadise 14y ago
I think the most telling evidence of Bill Gates satisfaction level is on the following page: http://biz.yahoo.com/t/38/567.html http://biz.yahoo.com/t/38/567.html Bill, IIRC, sells to give it to his foundation and his foundation sells to donate. Eric Schmidt is also selling about 50% of his holdings, but after a while it's accepted as estate planning or whatever, not as lacking confidence in the stock.
fjarlq 14y ago
You've omitted a lot of context. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7106589/ljbox/doc/MSFT-shares.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7106589/ljbox/doc/MSFT-shares.png Gates has been selling his stock at a steady pace for over a decade. Since Sept '01 he has sold an average of about 78.4 million shares per year. Using your link you can see that he sells 20 million shares quarterly, with each block of 20M selling within one week. So he did his usual 80 million in the past year. Since the rate of his selling has neither increased nor decreased significantly in at least 11.5 years, are you sure you can conclude something about his satisfaction level? What about the possibility that he is diversifying and funding his philanthropic goals? As of today he still owns about 421 million common shares of MSFT, worth $11.8 billion.
- maeon3 14y ago
  You are right. I was not looking at the whole picture. But still, if Bill is putting that money into another growth vehicle, that means that he believes Microsoft isn't going to rise to superstar status again. It's not a place where his money will even retain it's base value. He wants to get it out as soon as possible without crushing the stock. A decade long opinion that Microsoft isn't going to get better with time.
  - fjarlq 14y ago
    > if Bill is putting that money into another growth vehicle, that means that he believes Microsoft isn't going to rise to superstar status again. But Gates is not putting his money into another growth vehicle, he's putting it into his philanthropic projects, which he spends most of his time managing. He has made it clear (with both words and actions) that he wants to use the rest of his life doing the most good with his money that he can. And he has almost entirely redirected his career toward those non-Microsoft goals. If he was interested in making the most money he can, he would be doing totally different things. Of course, he can't (sensibly) sell his entire stake in MSFT at once. Instead he is selling it slowly but steadily. Also of course, he can't (sensibly) spend all his money at once. It is being invested in a diversified manner: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Investment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Investment Diversifying his wealth makes a great deal of fiscal sense, considering his goals, and the fact that he is no longer running Microsoft. So, I don't see how you reasonably conclude that his MSFT sales mean he has lost faith in Microsoft. > It's not a place where his money will even retain it's base value. The MSFT dividend yield has historically been over 2% and is now over 3%, so it's not like it's doing completely nothing before he can sell it. So it seems we agree that Gates wants to sell his MSFT as quickly as is reasonably possible, we just don't agree on his motivation. I suspect he will continue doing so until he isn't risking so many eggs in one basket, because he has other goals besides wealth accumulation.

by maeon3 14y ago

OGinparadise 14y ago

I think the most telling evidence of Bill Gates satisfaction level is on the following page: http://biz.yahoo.com/t/38/567.html http://biz.yahoo.com/t/38/567.html Bill, IIRC, sells to give it to his foundation and his foundation sells to donate. Eric Schmidt is also selling about 50% of his holdings, but after a while it's accepted as estate planning or whatever, not as lacking confidence in the stock.

fjarlq 14y ago

You've omitted a lot of context. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7106589/ljbox/doc/MSFT-shares.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7106589/ljbox/doc/MSFT-shares.png Gates has been selling his stock at a steady pace for over a decade. Since Sept '01 he has sold an average of about 78.4 million shares per year. Using your link you can see that he sells 20 million shares quarterly, with each block of 20M selling within one week. So he did his usual 80 million in the past year. Since the rate of his selling has neither increased nor decreased significantly in at least 11.5 years, are you sure you can conclude something about his satisfaction level? What about the possibility that he is diversifying and funding his philanthropic goals? As of today he still owns about 421 million common shares of MSFT, worth $11.8 billion.

maeon3 14y ago
You are right. I was not looking at the whole picture. But still, if Bill is putting that money into another growth vehicle, that means that he believes Microsoft isn't going to rise to superstar status again. It's not a place where his money will even retain it's base value. He wants to get it out as soon as possible without crushing the stock. A decade long opinion that Microsoft isn't going to get better with time.
- fjarlq 14y ago
  > if Bill is putting that money into another growth vehicle, that means that he believes Microsoft isn't going to rise to superstar status again. But Gates is not putting his money into another growth vehicle, he's putting it into his philanthropic projects, which he spends most of his time managing. He has made it clear (with both words and actions) that he wants to use the rest of his life doing the most good with his money that he can. And he has almost entirely redirected his career toward those non-Microsoft goals. If he was interested in making the most money he can, he would be doing totally different things. Of course, he can't (sensibly) sell his entire stake in MSFT at once. Instead he is selling it slowly but steadily. Also of course, he can't (sensibly) spend all his money at once. It is being invested in a diversified manner: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Investment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Investment Diversifying his wealth makes a great deal of fiscal sense, considering his goals, and the fact that he is no longer running Microsoft. So, I don't see how you reasonably conclude that his MSFT sales mean he has lost faith in Microsoft. > It's not a place where his money will even retain it's base value. The MSFT dividend yield has historically been over 2% and is now over 3%, so it's not like it's doing completely nothing before he can sell it. So it seems we agree that Gates wants to sell his MSFT as quickly as is reasonably possible, we just don't agree on his motivation. I suspect he will continue doing so until he isn't risking so many eggs in one basket, because he has other goals besides wealth accumulation.