Gates, Allen lose billions in market
by Stephen H. Dunphy
Seattle Times business columnist
Poor Bill Gates.
The Microsoft founder
chairman has suffered a
paper loss of $56 billion -
more than the gross
domestic product of
Bangladesh - since the
crash of his company's
stock after the
announcement that its
profits and revenues would
be much lower this
quarter.
At the end of last year,
Gates' holdings stood at
about $87.2 billion. With
the stock now trading
around $43 a share, his stock is worth a paltry $31.2 billion.
Microsoft workers say stock-ticker readers that used to run in
company buildings, showing everybody how rich they were
getting, have been turned off.
Co-founder Paul Allen suffered a similar fate, seeing his holding
drop from $17.9 billion to $6.4 billion in the past year. Microsoft
hit a 52-week high of $119.94 last Dec. 30.
Before you start feeling sorry for these guys, remember they have
both taken billions of dollars out of the company in the form of
earlier sales of their stock. Gates has given more than $15 billion
to his foundation.
Allen continues to invest in other companies, sports teams and
Seattle real estate.
The Gateses and the Allens are not alone. Like the Grinch that
stole the bull market, entrepreneurs, chief executives and top
shareholders are seeing their holdings slip away, changing them
from fabulously wealthy billionaires to mere mortal millionaires.
Take Naveen Jain, the founder of InfoSpace, an Internet
company that has seen its stock price cut by more than 85
percent this year.
At its top this year at about $130 a share in March, Jain was
worth about $8.5 billion. With the stock trading these days about
$6.38, his wealth has slipped to $419 million, a paper loss of
about $8.1 billion.
With many of the dot-coms becoming dot-bombs, those who are
left in the industry are feeling the pinch. Jeff Bezos of
Amazon.com was a billionaire last Christmas when his company's
stock hit a high of $102 a share. That made his holdings worth
about $5.99 billion.
Now the stock is trading at $15 a share - it hit a 52-week low
Wednesday - pushing Bezos' holdings below $1 billion at $880.5
million. You've got to feel for the guy. A family trust with 9 million
shares suffered a similar fate, slipping from nearly billionaire status
at $918 million last year to a Scrooge-like $135 million. |
