Slashdot Mirror
Bill Gates Fined $800,000 Over Stock Purchases
Bronz writes "CNN Money is reporting that Bill Gates has been fined $800,000 for violating antitrust waiting period for stock purchases. The department alleged that Gates bought more than $50 million worth of stock in ICOS Corp. through his personal investment trust and failed to notify antitrust officials about the purchase, as required." It's also clarified: "The technical incident has nothing to do with the government's massive antitrust battles with Microsoft."
Bill gates is known for investing in non-tech companies such as John Deere.
what is Bill Gates interested in a drug making/researching company for?
For the same reason Martha Stewart was interested in ImClone. Drug companies have huge potential in share price gain as they tend to copyright everything, and sell at huge margins... provided, of course, their product gets past the FDA.
Remember, it was Bill Gates the person that bought the stock and got fined, not Micro$oft.
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
Martha Stewart went to jail for OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE (lying about using inside information). Bill Gates is being fined for not reporting a purchase as he's required to. COMPLETELY different crimes, it's not a woman thing (not that I think she should be in jail but what he did is a lot less illegal)
this money doesn't go to feed or clothe poor people
How do you know that? Have you ever heard of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?
Not that I like Bill by any stretch. He justifies tyranny in one respect with philanthropy in other areas.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
You are incorrect. Martha Stewart didn't get busted for insider trading. she got busted for lying about it to the feds. As far as insider trading goes, there were several people who, through the same stock broker, sold more ImCLone stock on the same advice. She was chosen as the sacrificial lamb (if i recall, her friend's (who testified against her) ex husband sold considerably more stock on the insider knowledge. check out reason.com 's archives for martha stewart - the article i recall is pre-trial, and they're blatantly pro martha, but most of their points remain salient.
Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
That would be us Finns. Most fines are based on your yearly income. This still gets circulated and I don't think it's still quite right. Think about it: Bill Gates losing, say, ten days worth of income would flinch. Maybe. If even that. Someone who earns $1500 a month before taxes would not like to lose $500 in fines. To Bill it's a matter of the newspapers writing about record fines. To Joe Cubicle it's a matter of eating porridge and tuna & rice for a month. Nobody writing articles about that.
I think at least Norway has a somewhat similar system to ours at least on some fines. There are other countries I'm sure.
Like this $800000 fine with Bill, most laws like that still amount to a slap on the wrist even if the slap is a bit bigger than using the same fine for everyone.
Sigs for Nerds. Sigs that Matter.
800k is 0.002% of $40B, so a $5 fine is equal if have a net worth of $250k.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
It's not like doesn't have the money. Fining him 800k is like fining me 5$.
... but rather how much money you fraudulently made (or how much loss you avoided).
The fine is not based on how much you make, or how much you are worth (such as setting bail amounts)
Typically, the fine is up to three times the profit you made (or loss you avoided).
Here's an interesting page (PDF) on the subject. Review section 3.