Seeing insider activity during certain selling windows is always an interesting observation. When Bill Gates sells shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) it is normally just a blip, even though some may try to make a mountain out of a what is merely a molehill to the ‘Bajillionaire.’
Since the end of October over 9 separate filings Mr. Gates has sold nearly 11 million shares of Microsoft. If you just took the $36 handles seen on many prints in here for a rounding estimate you would see that this represents in the ballpark of some $400 million in gross proceeds so far. As of the last transaction Bill Gates still was the beneficial owner of 866,499,336 million shares, so in no way can the argument be made that Gates is fleeing this as his his major investment holding. But there might be more SEC filings with Gates selling shares before the current window closes.
In the prior sales window from the end of July to start of August, Mr. Gates’ holdings went from 897.49 million shares down to 877.49 million shares. So maybe he’s only half way through reporting share sales this time. We won’t know for another few days.
If many tech tycoons out there feel that the capital gains laws or that the income tax laws are going to change very much in 2009 after the election, then one might deduct that you could see an acceleration is share sales next year.
We routinely cover more in-depth analysis and look for more irregularities or patterns on our open distribution list, and some of that data doesn’t always get posted to the open website. As his holdings are so vast and as this is a mere blip for him, we have rounded all numbers rather than show exact numbers down to the penny. When dealing with the richest people in the world, a few million dollars is like beer money to most people.
Jon C. Ogg
November 8, 2007
Jon Ogg also produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletter, which covers buyout candidates, spin-offs, break-ups, activist investor actions, reorganizations, and recapitalizations.
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