Bill Gates Sells Off 90 Million Of His Microsoft Shares

Is Bill Gates souring on Microsoft? The founder, and largest single stockholder, in the company has sold off 90 million of his own stocks in the past year.

As Information Week reports, Gates has reduced his stock holdings by 13 percent, with ten million shares sold as recently as last week.

Officials say that Gates is just doing as all investors do and diversifying his portfolio. But also possible is that Gates, like all investors, wants to see a real return on his money. Information Week notes that a return on Microsoft stock today would be 2.74% -- paltry compared to Apple's 38.8% or even IBM's 17.37%.

Perhaps Gates is simply reading the writing on the wall. Microsoft's recent tribulations getting an iPad-competitive tablet to get traction are well known. And other disasters like Windows Vista and the failed KIN smartphones only lend credence to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's words that Microsoft is now the "underdog."

Instead, Bill Gates is investing in garbage--literally--as in the company Republic Services, which deals in solid waste services.

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