Oops! Xbox Exec Sold Even More Stock Prior to RROD Admission

Oops! Xbox Exec Sold Even More Stock Prior to RROD Admission

August 14, 2007
Do you remember last month's little stock stink at Microsoft?

Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) records showed that MS gaming exec Robbie Bach dumped $6.2 million worth of Microsoft shares in advance of the company's public acknowledgement that the Xbox 360 was plagued with a major design flaw, causing the dreaded Red Ring of Death hardware failure.

Oh, and Microsoft also announced it was setting aside $1 billion to deal with the problem.

Now, CNN/Money reports that Bach sold an additional $3 million worth of stock, according to documents filed with the SEC on Monday. Proper reporting of the sale of the additional shares apparently slipped through the cracks. From CNN/Money:
Bach sold $6.2 million worth of Microsoft stock between May 2 and a July 5 announcement that the company would take a $1.5 billion charge related to Xbox repairs. The most recent sales occurred between May 25 and May 30, according to SEC filings. Bach is president of the company's entertainment and devices unit, which includes the Xbox.

But according to the filing Monday, Bach had sold just over $3 million worth of company stock on May 1. Microsoft spokesman Eric Hollreiser said the additional $3 million in sales were not registered in a timely manner with the SEC "as the result of an administrative error."

Normally, a company must register insider sales with the SEC within two days of the transaction...

GP: While it doesn't smell great, Bach didn't save a great deal of money by dumping his shares, which would be the standard motivation for someone trying to sell in advance of bad news. MS stock weathered the Xbox 360 RROD announcement quite well. As CNN/Money notes:
Microsoft (MSFT) shares did not fall significantly following the July 5 announcement, when they were trading at roughly $30. Microsoft shares closed down 2% Monday, to $28.10.

Comments

This is just like when Ray Kassar dumped a bunch of Atari stock before the announcement of their losses over the whole E.T. fiasco. It might be completely legit, it might not, but the only fact that matters is that it *looks* bad...
D'oh! How very "Martha Stewart" of him.
[...] According to press reports, a senior Microsoft exec dumped $9.2 million in shares shortly before the software giant announced its $1 billion warranty extension on faulty Xbox 360 consoles. [...]
Bach didn’t save a great deal of money by dumping his shares,
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

by my calculations he saved $392,600 if i dont suck at math. since when is that not a lot?
since when your boss is bill gates with 3 billion.
hi i enjoyed the read
hi i enjoyed the read
Xbox...

Thanks. I gave a link of this letter in my blog....

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/08/09 at 09:02am
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Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
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Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
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