Beginning of the end?

Why did Steve Ballmer sell 12 percent of his stake in Microsoft?

Ballmer unloaded 49.3 million shares for average price of $27.03, netting about $1.3 billion. It's as if Microsoft's CEO was saving up, looking for a lift in the share price -- perhaps even expecting that solid financial results for year to date or some recent new product releases would lift Microsoft share price. In late April, Microsoft's stock price climbed above $31 a share, before dropping to about $23 a share in early July. Only since Microsoft's fiscal 2011 first quarter financial report, on October 28th, have share prices consistently pushed above $26. Ballmer may have shrewdly picked about the best time to sell since April. The chart above shows Microsoft share price year to date.

Ballmer's official November 5th statement: "Even though this is a personal financial matter, I want to be clear about this to avoid any confusion. I am excited about our new products and the potential for our technology to change people's lives, and I remain fully committed to Microsoft and its success."

Ballmer isn't the only Microsoft executive unloading shares. On November 1st, second-in-command Kevin Turner sold 48,956 shares for an average 27 bucks a piece; he also sold shares in September. Turner is by no means as large a stakeholder as Ballmer and owns 71,4801 shares following his recent sales. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates also is unloading stock -- 2 million shares on November 2nd and another 1 million shares a day later, leaving him with 617,973,551 shares. Gates shares sold for $27.23 and $27.19, respectively. Three days later, Microsoft chief accounting officer Frank sold 15,000 shares for $27.13 a piece.
Perhaps the sales mean nothing; they're just routine? :-)