Steve Ballmer cashes in 49 million Microsoft shares

Regime change coming to a Microsoft near you.

Was that picture taken with a {inset fanboi phone of hate here}?

Probably needed some extra cash for the holidays

I suck – and swallow!

… and so does the internet pen-name “Thomas Joseph”.

It’s because he knows WP7 is gonna tank.

The moment Stevo cashed in those shares is the only time in his life he wished he was CEO of Apple or Google.

49,000,000 Shares of Google at current price: $30.6 billion in market value (Market cap: $190 billion)
49,000,000 Shares of Apple at current price: $15.5 billion in market value (Market cap: $290 billion)
49,000,000 Shares of Microsoft: $1.3 billion in market value (Market cap: $230 billion)

To put this in perspective, and Apple exec cashed out shares last week at a strike price of around $40 a share, meaning he netted about $270 per share. Ballmer’s net on this transaction was a mere $26 per share, due to Microsoft’s share price being flat for ten years and the enormous amount of shares. Luckily for Ballmer, these don’t appear to have been options, because if they had been, he would’ve made even less.

Perspective – how many times has Google or Apple split? Look that up and come back and tell me what you may have learned

@Perspectively, Your logic is flawed. Follow Mangenius advice and report back to us.

“change people’s lives…..”
What a pompous blowhard.

Ah , with the tax rates changing on long term Capital gains next year to 20% this is a a good time to sell highly appreciated assets. Also If he was smart he should put many of those assets into either a Lead Trust or CRT to avoid any taxes. OK I know 99.5% of you have no clue what I just said. Remember just because you have no clue doe not change the fact that it works. As a good Tax attorney or use Google.

Or he is pulling an Eron and is getting out before the ship sinks.

Maybe Steve finally received his WP7 phone that every MS employee is getting?

Smart move!

And the rich get richer; disgusting.

He’s probably going to buy shares in Apple.

This is a personal financial matter. So, in other words… screw what you think. I’ll tell you whatever I want to just to get you off my back. Well, that’s just my opinion. A transaction this large, of a personal financial nature means one thing to me… maximize your return on investment “before” that return amount drops. Take it how you want… but I think he sees the writing on the wall. Time to cash in the chips while their still holding good value.

I love this pic, why steve ballmer is always screaming at the top of his lungs whenever he is featured on blogs? well, maybe he is. hahaha

HE IS CLEARLY GATES Obadiah Stane

CEO’s are required to disclose major share transactions. Buys & Sells. Question is, what % of his total portfolio is still vested in Microsoft.

If significant = confidence. If only a small percent = Hmmmmmm.

The real problem, CONGRESS is really screwing Americans (rich & poor) by not deciding on annual tax issues. It has to be done every year. Yet every year they wait until the last minuet, so we cannot plan.

Good move