By Peter Ramjug
WASHINGTON: Executives at Microsoft Corporation, including co-founder Paul Allen, filed to sell millions of shares of the software giant in the days leading up to a judge's ruling ordering the company split.
Allen has sold 35.585 million common shares worth more than $3 billion from March 1-June 5, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He filed to sell an additional two million shares worth over $138 million on June 6, the day before US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered Microsoft to be split in two in the federal government's antitrust case. The world's biggest software company is appealing.
Allen's spokeswoman said on Friday that approximately every quarter, he "will divest some portion of his Microsoft shares for the diversification of his overall portfolio."
Asked if there was any relationship between the timing of the stock sales and the judge's ruling, she said: "I think you'd be stretching to try to make a connection there."
Allen, whose interests include cable television and technology company investments as well as ownership of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, currently holds 202,924,024 shares of Microsoft, or about 4.1 percent, said spokeswoman Susan Pierson Brown.
Microsoft, located in Redmond, Wash., has more than 5 billion shares outstanding. The stock closed on Friday up 3/16 to 72-9/16 on Nasdaq. That compares with a year high of 119-15/16 and a year low of 60-6/16.
Chief Operating Officer Robert Herbold filed on June 7 - the day of the breakup ruling - to sell 175,000 shares for about $12 million. His SEC filing showed he had not sold any Microsoft shares in the prior three months.
The day after that, on June 8, senior vice president Paul Gross filed to unload 30,000 shares for about $2 million. He previously sold 25,000 shares on May 1 for $1.8 million. Both executives acquired their shares after exercising options, the documents showed.
Microsoft spokeswoman Katy Fonner said many of the company's executives have a significant percentage of their net worth in Microsoft, and diversification of their shares "is a prudent thing for them to choose to do."
She declined to say anything about the timing of the filings, saying Microsoft has a policy of not commenting on their employees' personal investment decisions.
(C) Reuters Limited 2000.