Microsoft Sets Dividend
from the well,-that-didn't-take-long dept
Well, well, well. That certainly didn't take long. While other tech companies took their time saying they would (as always) "consider" the dividend question, Microsoft has responded very quickly saying that they will, for the first time ever, give out a (now tax free) dividend. The dividend ($0.16/share) will end up costing them $870.6 million. I wonder if this will cause other tech companies to follow suit. Of course, since Bill Gates owns so much of the company's stock, $100 million of the dividend payout goes directly into his pockets (tax free). Steve Ballmer takes in a lowly $37.68 million. The tax free nature of the dividend means that Gates gets to keep $38.4 million in taxes he would have had to pay, while Ballmer saves himself an extra $14.54 million.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Not tax-free yet
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Re: Not tax-free yet
I find it very interesting that the entire media is missing this issue. I think it may be convenient to show that they don't support the tax break and don't have to get into the details which basically means that all the income is still actually taxed...
-Gene
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