Microsoft founder Bill Gates is no longer the company's largest shareholder. The informal title is now held by Steve Ballmer, who stepped down as CEO just last February.
According to a Bloomberg report, Bill Gates sold 4.6 million shares on April 30, now holding 330.1 million shares, thus "allowing" Ballmer to overtake him with his 333.2 shares.
Bill Gates founded Microsoft, along with Paul Allen, in 1975, but since stepping down as CEO in 2000, he has been selling a significant portion of his shares each year. After all, it is known that Gates and his wife Melinda, after 2000, have turned to charitable work through the foundation they have established for this purpose.
Although the Microsoft co-founder is not going to abandon his philanthropic work, he will now dedicate part of his time to Microsoft, acting as a special advisor, alongside the current CEO, Satya Nadella.
Steve Ballmer, now 58, was Microsoft's 30th employee, joining the company in 1980 after Bill Gates convinced him to drop out of Stanford University's School of Economics. He worked his way up the company until succeeding Gates as CEO in 2000.
He stepped down from his position last February, after Satya Nadella was selected, while retaining his seat on the company's Board of Directors. Ballmer's "collecting" of shares began in 1986, that is, since Microsoft's initial public offering. The value of Ballmer's shares is, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, $18.8 billion.
It is worth noting that in Microsoft's shareholder structure there are also some with larger portfolios, with the difference being that they are not individuals. These are the investment groups Vanguard Group (372.6 million shares) and State Street (343 million shares).
According to market analysts, the fact that Gates is no longer the person with the most shares in Microsoft has purely symbolic significance, as it expresses the essential "changing of the guard" at the company.
Source: naftemporiki.gr
