Yep, apparently robbie bach who's the president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division sold $6.2 in microsoft stock just before the RLOD issue was made official. The problem is that he did sold another $3 millions before the announcement, bringing the number to $9 millions. To make matters more murky, the sales were not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission within the mandatory two days of the transaction, a result of an alleged "administrative error." Microsoft has since remedied the issue by following the "procedures required of late-filers." Even when the RLOD announcement didnt kick MS's balls in the stock market (just 2% down) the fact that one of its most important members decided to get rid of so many stock means there could be more behind this whole issue than what we know. Source
Microsoft is going to lose a fair amount of money by offering to repair the red light problem. Bach knew this a sold a shitload of stock before their value went down. This is what I gather from everything, but I know next to nothing about stock and business. I don't think it's a conspiracy or anything. I just think Bach did something really fucking shady and likely broke the law. How do people move this much money illegitimately and think people are not going to notice?
The main problem here is that is this kind of major stock sales the ones that produce panic at the stock market, making a cascade effect where little investors start selling their MS stock too. The Enron scandal started when the chief executive of that company dumped $33 million in enron stock into the market, which eventually led to other big investors doing the same, destroying the company from the inside out. Obviously in that case there where some shady business behind all that, but the fact is that you cant trade that many stock without making any "noise" in the process.
If a major shareholder is found to have used insider information or privately gained information gleened from that persons position within a company then such "dumping" of stock just prior to an expected announcement or issue that is more than likely going to affect the value of said shares, is actually acting highly illegally. I'd not comment on this particular issue as I have only just read the details on here and I don't know the facts, but that is the official line on alleged stock dumping. Interesting that you should mention Enron. Their biggest issue was that they just didn't have the income that they said they did, so when the Chief Exec realised there was going to be an official investigation into their accounts, he decided to "act alone". Either way, Enron were screwed!
Yeah I know, the SEC was all over them, but the fact is that things would've gone more smoothly if he didnt dump the stock in the first place. It was after that that other investors (specially smaller ones) panicked, bringing the attention of both the media and government officials.
