Scrooge Strategy

$105 million in one day?

19 comments — written on February 14th, 2007

Found on Reddit a while ago:

Insider Filings – GATES WILLIAM H III (Microsoft)

16-Nov-06 1,000,000 MSFT Sale at $29.20 – $29.54 per share.
(Proceeds of about $29,370,000)

15-Nov-06 1,000,000 MSFT Sale at $29.11 – $29.35 per share.
(Proceeds of about $29,230,000)

14-Nov-06 1,000,000 MSFT Sale at $29.07 – $29.4 per share.
(Proceeds of about $29,235,000)

[...]

3-Aug-05 3,874,126 MSFT Sale at $26.92 – $27.37 per share.
(Proceeds of about $105,163,000)

See the full schedule/amounts of Bill Gates’s stock sales here.

PS–Happy Valentine’s Day.

Get chapter 1 of my New York Times best-selling book for free

Sign up for my newsletter and I will send you my first chapter instantly

  • Free negotiation scripts
  • Bonus entrepreneurship videos
  • Tactics to earn more money

19 comments

Leave your own

  1. 1
    February 14, 2007

    Mike

    Bill does this every quarter, cashing in typically $100-200 million. I suspect some of that may be on behalf of his foundation as well.

  2. 2
    February 14, 2007

    Scott

    Las Vegas Sands (LVS)

    16-Mar-06 ADELSON SHELDON G
    Officer 59,764,325 Indirect Sale at $49.14 per share. $2,936,818,930

  3. 3
    February 14, 2007

    Philip Plante

    That must be on the days he ran out of toilet paper. Hey, what else is a filthy rich man supposed to do?

  4. 4
    February 14, 2007

    Matt

    The number is just mind numbing but the fact that he can sell a million shares or even a couple million without causing panic in the share price means that he has so much more that he can’t possibly sell it fast enough. I wish I had his problem.

  5. 5
    February 14, 2007

    Tim

    It’s interesting to see it this way: we all know Bill Gates has billions and billions of dollars but it gets hard to grasp.
    But think about that: if he were to give you only one percent of *one* of these transactions, you would be set for some time…
    Whereas one percent of what I make in one month can pay you a reasonable dinner but not much more… :)

    And he still has 934 of these million-share transactions waiting!

  6. 6
    February 14, 2007

    Me, myself and Money

    Looks like some one is really running out of ideas for a blog post!

  7. 7
    February 14, 2007

    Ramit Sethi

    Heh, you really think that?

  8. 8
    February 14, 2007

    Me, myself and Money

    Yup, I do. I remember I used to be excited every morning to read your blog but I don’t any more. I think the last good post was Save money, impress girls..something like that & its been a few weeks since that post. Sorry, I don’t mean to sound rude!

  9. 9
    February 14, 2007

    Mike

    Ramit,

    Some constructive criticism, based on some negative comments I’ve read here recently and the content in recent posts:

    1. The “Car Debacle” multiple-post story should likely have been written as one post, once all the back-and-forth email between the parties had ended. But the story had good advise on not being a dumbass.

    2. The two posts following the Car Debacle were basically welcoming readers from other sites… no real content.

    3. Then came a post about your archives and font size, again, no real content.

    4. Then, a few posts later (after some good content/questions from readers), you throw out a dangling carrot about your newsletter.

    5. This post, about Bill Gates, although interesting, provides no helpful information for the average Joe.

    I think people want to see more “what can we do to sharpen our personal finance skills” and less “here’s what’s coming up soon”.

    Personally, I’ve rather enjoyed the recent “here’s what I’d do if…” posts, because they’ve generated numerous comments that have been though inspiring and entertaining.

    Keep up the good work and don’t let the unconstructive criticism get you down.

  10. 10
    February 14, 2007

    Carlin

    I’d bet if you started reposting some of your old posts, a lot people wouldn’t even notice. How about the one where you talk about why you don’t crank out posts? Ah, nostalgia. That was like almost an entire year ago!Those were such simpler times.

  11. 11
    February 15, 2007

    Fusebox

    Ramit, Seeing your blog has been running for a few years now, perhaps its time to do a revision series… or best of, and even update this.

    Maybe dig more into specific topics.

  12. 12
    February 15, 2007

    Ramit Sethi

    Now that’s good feedback, Mike. I appreciate it. Fusebox, that’s a good idea, too.

    It’s not a lack of ideas but I’ve been swamped with some things I’m working on. More posts to come.

    PS–As a quick sidenote, I get so much feedback that it’s unreal. Some people want longer articles, some people want shorter articles (I make fun of them for being illiterate), and others just want esoteric information. There’s no pleasing everyone, so while I’m informed by the feedback I get, I’m just going to continue writing about things I think are cool.

    This Bill Gates article, for example, was pretty interesting to me.

  13. 13
    February 15, 2007

    Matt

    Hmm, isn’t that what a blog’s supposed to be? :)

  14. 14
    February 15, 2007

    Enrique

    I think this article is very interesting. For one, it shows where the money is to be made.
    By researching and buying new companies stocks, let the compound and split and anyone ccan become a millionarie.
    Isn’t a blog? a a diary? Ramit has given ideas not we need to implented them.

  15. 15
    February 15, 2007

    frank

    yep, can’t please everyone :o P at the least its great you’re enjoying what you’re doing and you’re pleasing yourself. but not like that.
    i do miss the good ol chunky articles that teach us about roth iras and other fundamentals, but hey, it’s great that you’re experimenting with different stuff and you do have a life outside of catering to your readers’ wants.
    thanks for doing what you enjoy while keeping an open ear and mind to your readers.

  16. 16
    February 16, 2007

    Blair Christopher

    Ramit,

    Don’t let the negative connotation fool you. Wrapped in every jab, in every snide remark, there is always good feedback to be gleaned. Although, I doubt that any idea that has been put forth in the comments so far is anything you haven’t thought about yourself already. I think the best person to know what should go on your blog is you. That is why we all originally tuned in in the first place, wasn’t it? To get a piece of you with our finance news?

    I know that is why I read blogs instead of straight up news sites. I like the personal aspect.

    I think the most important advice is (now that you are getting a larger audience) is to welcome the new readers, but never forget those who have been reading before the pop.

    PS. Also, I demand you at least get a guest blogger to come and help you flesh out an article on buying a home and the process therein. It is something most of you target audience is going through or will before they turn 30.

  17. 17
    February 16, 2007

    Fashion Industry Ceo

    I know how it can be ramit its hard to come up with very informational posts everyday when you have a million other things goind on…i had the same feedback on one of my posts when I truly thought it could help in some form or fashion!

  18. 18
    February 20, 2007

    Wilson M

    It’s always somewhat amusing to see people criticize Ramit for posting about topic a, and not teaching them more about x, or y, etc.

    While this blog has been very educational and often motivational, there’s nothing stopping YOU from learning about Roth IRA’s and 401k’s and different cashflow strategies.

    It reminds me of a conversation I had once with a buddy about taking classes in school to learn about things. While classes offer structure and some motivation (grades), one shouldn’t wait until someone hands you the topic on a dish to go out and learn about it.

    Anyway, I also found this post interesting. Not so much for the sensationalist title, but the topics that it touches on – successful results of entrepreneurship and fundamental stock monitoring (why would founders be selling?).

  19. 19
    September 7, 2007

    Chris

    Hi, I really don’t get it. How do people get so rich? If you are so hard working, how come some people can’t get rich?

How much have you saved
using Ramit's advice?





$
Only numbers please