Bill Gates is dumping his Microsoft stock. CC by World Economic Forum/Wikimedia Commons

Bill Gates has been dipping into his vast reservoir of Microsoft stock and dumping shares for cash. Gates has unloaded such a big chunk of his Microsoft holdings that other Microsoft shareholders could question the value of their investment. Gates no doubt would rather place his bets on a faster horse as Microsoft declines from technology leader to also-ran.

No investment made with Microsoft

The Microsoft stock has been sold by Bill Gates. This February he has already sold 10 million shares. Gates has been selling Microsoft shares over the last year. Ninety million were sold in just the last year. The interest in the company has been reduced by 22 percent by Gates. Microsoft made Gates the richest man in the world, but Microsoft shares have stagnated for about 10 years. Rates for shares in Google, Amazon, Netflix, Apple and other companies have gone up a lot. There would be a 2.74 percent five-year annual return on Microsoft stock for those who invested money in 2001 and cashed it out now. Investment in Apple stock would have done much better; the five-year return would be 38.8 percent.

Gates involvement in Microsoft

With 591 million Microsoft shares, Bill Gates is still the largest stockholder. He holds about 7 percent of 8.4 billion outstanding Microsoft shares. Microsoft holdings are being diversified, according to company officials. But since Gates stepped away from Microsoft to become a philanthropist via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he has watched the company come out on the wrong side of the most important trends in technology. Microsoft has tried to compete with smartphones, online music, tablet PCs and social networking, but it has been one step behind other companies.

Microsoft shares sold by CEO Ballmer

Company CEO Steve Ballmer may have taken the Bill Gates Microsoft sell-off as a message. Microsoft hasn’t been doing very well with Ballmer as CEO for the past 11 years. Ballmer says he has put together plans that would completely change management. He will be promoting engineers and product specialists to management, while marketing executives won’t be as lucky. That might keep investors happy for a while. It isn’t something Gates is excited about, though. Ballmer can only hope investors don’t follow Gates’ example en masse. Ballmer himself has sold 49.3 million in shares of Microsoft stock worth about $1.3 billion.

Citations

Information Week

Computer Weekly

IT World

Bill Gates and his philanthropy partner Warren Buffett announced a campaign Wednesday to convince America's billionaires to give away half their money to the charities of their choice. Flickr photo.

Billionaires giving money away isn’t so unusual. When the billionaires giving money away are Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, it’s good, but old, news. But when billionaires Gates and Buffett call out their fellow billionaires to pledge 50 percent of their fortunes to charity, people notice. The billionaire philanthropists announced a campaign Wednesday to persuade America’s billionaires to sign a “Giving Pledge” to donate most of their wealth to the causes of their choice.

The Gates Buffett charity pledge

The latest Gates Buffett charity drive is called “The Giving Pledge.” The Associated Press reports that the two men, who have become friends and philanthropic colleagues, are asking the super-rich to sign a pledge making a public statement that they will donate either during their lifetime or at the time of their death to the charities of their choice. Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said in a letter introducing The Giving Pledge that he couldn’t be happier with the decision he made in 2006, when he gave 99 percent of his roughly $47 billion fortune to charity.

Billionaire philanthropists

Buffett’s billionaire philanthropy will eventually split most of his shares of his company between five charitable foundations, with the largest sum going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Reuters reports that Bill and Melinda Gates have so far given more than $28 billion of their money to their foundation. Since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation began in 1994, it has given away more than $22 billion for health improvements in poor countries and to improve access to education and career opportunities for Americans.

The billionaire list

On the billionaire list, Bill Gates had held the title of world’s richest 14 of the past 15 years. He was beat out for number one on the billionaire list in 2010 by Mexican tycoon Slim Helu, whose fortune swelled by $18.5 billion in 12 months to an estimated $53.5 billion. Gates is now ranked second richest man in the world with $53 billion, while Buffett came in at No. 3 with $47 billion.

Will billionaires give money away?

The U.S. has at least 400 billionaires — the most in the world — with a net worth Forbes estimates at $1.2 trillion.  If Buffett and Gates could convince America’s billionaires to give half their fortunes to charity it would transform the nature of philanthropy. Fortune, which broke the story, reports that IRS facts for 2007 show the 400 biggest taxpayers had a total adjusted income of $138 billion, and just more than $11 billion was taken as a charitable deduction — about 8 percent. If all the billionaires give money away, however unlikely, about $69 billion would flood the coffers for the common good.

Gates Buffett charity goals

The campaign began just over a year ago, when Gates and Buffett — who represent a combined net worth of $90 billion, according to Forbes — invited several billionaires to a secret dinner meeting in New York. MSNBC reports that the group settled on a goal of 50 percent of net worth. They set up a website, givingpledge.org, to promote the campaign. If the individuals on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans pledged half their net worth to charity, that would amount to $600 billion.

Carlos Slim Helu, world's richest person. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The Forbes billionaire list names the 1,011 people in the world whose net worth is more than $1 billion. The people on the 2010 Forbes billionaire list aren’t worrying about getting the cheapest personal loans, obviously, but the list shows some interesting shifts in the world’s money supply. For instance, last year half the people on the Forbes billionaire list were from the U.S. This year, only 40 percent are from the U.S. And, unlike last year, the world’s richest man is not from the U.S. Here are the top 10: the richest people in the world.

1. Carlos Slim Helu, $53.5 billion

“Carlos Slim Helu and family” top  the Forbes Billionaire list. Helu lives in Mexico and is part-owner of Latin America’s largest corporation, mobile phone company America Movil. He also owns a construction conglomerate and owns stakes in several other companies, including the New York Times.

2. Bill Gates, $53 billion

The richest man in the United States, Bill Gates, slipped one spot on the Forbes Billionaire list this year, even though his net worth increased significantly. Last year the Microsoft chairman topped the list with $40 billion, and this year he is in the No. 2 spot with $53 billion.

3. Warren Buffett, $47 billion

Fun fact: the world’s third-richest man lives in Omaha, Nebraska. Investment tycoon and self-made billionaire Warren Buffett stayed in the top three this year thanks to a $10 billion increase in his wealth over the past year.

4. Mukesh Ambani, $29 billion

Mukesh Ambani, of India, inherited his father’s fortune and his oil business. He also owns a cricket team. If he wants to start handing out loans for people with bad credit, I have an idea for where he should start.

5. Lakshmi Mittal, $28.7 billion

Lakshmi Mittal inherited his fortune and ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker. He started out in the family business in India in the 1970s and branched out on his own in the ’90s. He now lives in London but still has Indian citizenship.

6. Lawrence Ellison, $28 billion

Lawrence Ellison founded Oracle, a database giant. Oracle bought 57 companies in the past five years, and the company’s stock has gone up 70 percent over the past 12 months. Along with Bill Gates, Lawrence Ellison is the second college dropout on the Forbes billionaire list. (Kids, don’t try this at home.)

7. Bernard Arnault, $27.5 billion

Bernard Arnault’s luxury goods company makes Louis Vuitton and Moet & Chandon products. The company, called LVMH, also is developing upscale commercial property in Shangai. Arnault lives in Paris, France.

8. Eike Batista, $27 billion

It was a big year for Eike Batista, from Brazil. He made $19.5 billion over the past year, mostly from his oil-and-gas exploration company. Last year on the Forbes’ billionaire list he was No. 61 with $7.5 billion.

9. Amancio Ortega, $25 billion

The Forbes billionaire list calls Amancio Ortega a “style maven.” The Spaniard owns Inditex fashion firm, which operates in 73 countries. He also owns real estate including the building that houses Bicardi USA.

10. Karl Albrecht, $23.5 billion

I had to reread this one a few times: The world’s 10th richest man owns a chain of discount supermarkets. Karl Albrecht, from Germany, owns Aldi Sud, one of Europe’s dominant grocers. He plans to open a store in New York City this year.

That wraps up the top 10 on the Forbes billionaire list. The good news that they all have more money than they did last year, which indicates that, overall, the global economy is recovering.