Microsoft Considers $10 Billion Dividend

Dreadnougat writes "Microsoft is considering paying out a $10 billion dividend, the largest corporate payout ever. Cynics (ok, anyone reading /.) might note that Bill Gates stands to make $1.18 billion himself off the $1 a share dividend, in comparison to the $95 million he makes in a normal year off the regular 8 cents a share dividend."

Comments

Re:Didn't the govt just make dividend income TaxFr

[mcg1969]

No, dividends are taxed at the (now reduced) capital gains rate, instead of the ordinary income rate.

Re:/.-centric summary.

[stephanruby]

The problem you guys have is "why didn't I think of that back then". And the truth of the matter is he played by the rules and won.

Bill Gates is not evil, but Bill Gates is certainly not the poster child for meritocracy either. Bill's dad was a top-notch lawyer in New York. This gave him a top-notch education to begin with and an easy access to capital. Please, don't make it sound like everyone could have done what he did.

Re:Bill Should Do More Good

[Moooo Cow]

Check out the numbers

Over 600 million each donated to child health, and HIV/AIDS/TB. As staggering as the absolute magnitude of those numbers are, even in percentage terms they are quite remarkable. Given his total career earnings of, say, $50 billion or so (to date), this represents more than 1% to each of those causes.

To put it in perspective, do you know any other moderately well off computer geek, who may make $3 million in their career, pledging 1% ($30,000) to each of those causes? He's also indicated that global HIV/AIDS/health is a top priority, so expect him to give a lot more in that area before he's done.