It still sounds bad to me. It says to me that Steve thinks there's more upside in lower cap gains taxes than hanging onto the stock. In other words, MSFT is stagnant now and it's going to be stagnant for years to come.
If Steve had been doing what Bill does—selling off a big chunk of stock every quarter—no one would've even blinked at this.
Some reports put Balmer's total sale at $1.3 billion. The 5% increase in the capital gains tax rate represents up to $65,000,000. Even for a billionaire, that's real money.
If Steve had been doing what Bill does—selling off a big chunk of stock every quarter—no one would've even blinked at this.