Bach sold even more stock before warranty announcement

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 14th 2007 at 2:45PM }

Last month it was discovered that Robbie Bach, the head of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Unit (which includes Xbox), sold $6.2 million in company stock in the months leading up to the warranty extension announcement -- turns out, it was even more than originally reported. Bach actually sold another $3 million more in stock, which weren't filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Microsoft says that the extra few million weren't filed "as the result of an administrative error."

Microsoft is still sticking by their story that the stock sales by Bach were purely coincidental in regards to the warranty announcement. Given that the stock price barely took a hit, one could see that as possible. Then again, Martha Stewart went to jail for issues surrounding insider dealing, even though the stock she sold eventually rebounded. Who knows what the truth is, all we want to know is what did Bach spend the $10 million on -- a PS3 or two?

[Via GamePolitics]

Tags: bach, insidertrading, stocksale, warranty, xbox360

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Truepatriot @ Aug 14th 2007 2:50PM

that is very shady.isnt there laws against this or something? they need to martha stewart his ass.

gamernewz.net @ Aug 14th 2007 2:58PM

If it walks like a duck, and it talks like a duck, its a friggin' duck.

cos @ Aug 14th 2007 3:03PM

One could also make a case that the warrenty announcement would have been viewed by investors as a positive, and boosted their stock price. Yeah, it cost them a billion dollars, but it showed they were trying to get out in front of the issue, keep customers happy, and maintain their lead. Is it so bad to sell stock then? When *can* he sell stock, surely he must *always* know *some* insider knowledge that the public isn't privy to...

Matt B @ Aug 14th 2007 3:20PM

Investors don't care about keeping the customer happy, they care about the bottom line which is $1B less than they though it would be.

TheBrownShow @ Aug 14th 2007 3:08PM

For the record, Martha Stewart went to jail for Perjury and Obstruction of Justice as a result of being INVESTIGATED for insider trading. Let's get the facts straight before we start making comparisons.

James @ Aug 14th 2007 3:08PM

Bang! And the stocks are gone.

*anyone gets that and you're my hero*

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 14th 2007 3:12PM

Coming to America
Brewster's Millions
Someone set us up the Bomb
Trading Spaces

Markusdragon @ Aug 14th 2007 4:43PM

Heatsinks, fans, Ground-up disks,
They're a challenge, but not for;
Robbie Bach!

Look what it does to 900,000,000 pennies...

BananaBoat @ Aug 14th 2007 3:16PM

I agree, if you want to sell stock from a company that you are an officer, I think it shouldn't be considered illegal (since as previously stated, you'd ALWAYS know insider information) and I don't think that it is in this case. What is somewhat (not even really) shady is that he didn't report the sale to the SEC, which then would have made the sale public and caused the stock to waffle (since one of the officers of a company was selling his stock. That sends a huge red flag). In all likelyhood, this guy just wants to diversify his portfolio, and there is no mischief going on here.

Free Thinker @ Aug 14th 2007 3:18PM

Where o where is J. Allard?
Microsoft executives are starting to look like Gizmodo executives.

There is clearly much more to this story than we know at this point.

Rats from a sinking ship that have jumped so far, Mr. Moore and financially Mr. Bach. Who is next?

Paging Mr. J. Allard paging Mr. J. Allard

Badboy1979 @ Aug 14th 2007 3:25PM

I doubt this can be tied to a "sinking ship" analogy considering he actually bought some more MS stock, right?

Free Thinker @ Aug 14th 2007 3:43PM

Did not know that. Well then, strike my last comment.

Where is J. Allard? Anyone?

Mr Slavio @ Aug 14th 2007 4:44PM

I'm afraid we're gonna have words about that avatar of yours.

Jake @ Aug 14th 2007 5:15PM

No, just no. This isn't "rats from a sinking ship". Moore moved back home and got a job with EA. Bach made a relatively small unscheduled stock sale. MS stock is on the rise. The 360 has a bright future. MS has an even brighter future. No matter how bad you wish it would go away, it isn't.

If you want to use a cliche for this story, try "making mountains out of a mole hill". That one is much more accurate.

mr nimblewick @ Aug 14th 2007 3:19PM

I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, he bought the stock back once it was at a lower price.

Korova @ Aug 15th 2007 7:14AM

Ah, buy low sell high?! That called short-swing profit. And, if he took advantage of insider info that regular investors didnt have, is illegal.

The problem is, if he is martha stewarted, he will come out of jail even more HARDCORE. And then xbox will never beat the Wii or Apple

Hoffer @ Aug 14th 2007 3:39PM

IMHO, this is such a non-story. Did the warranty announcement even have the slightest impact on MS’s stock price? Wasn’t it like 2 weeks later that MS reported billions in PROFIT and that took into account the billion loss??

Korova @ Aug 15th 2007 7:21AM

Even though MS is so huge it lends God money when he is short, a $1bln hit is still important to MS and its investors. Thats when SEC gets involved - when insiders trade around important bad news.

It could just be a coincidence - as you know, Martha Stewart got busted because SEC flipped her stockbroker, who also traded on the info. So if anyone rolls on Bach, he will not pass go, will not collect $200 and go str8 to jail.

Jake @ Aug 14th 2007 3:43PM

Big problem with this whole deal. People are assuming a 1 year warranty extension (from the 2 years offered at the time) would have a serious impact on Microsoft stock. There is no reason it should have. And, it obviously didn't. It is just a bunch of idiots trying to put some pieces together, and failing.

My question is "where did Bach move his money to?" If he put it in a hot stock or a new lake home, I will have to shout an extra big lol out to the dumbasses that all the sudden think they're big money geniuses.