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The Microsoft Millionaires Come of Age
iseff writes "The NYTimes is running a story about the ways in which Microsoft millionaires are putting their money to use. According to the story, there is somewhere around 10,000 Microsoft made millionaires spending money on various pet projects. For example, former programmer Chris Peters bought the PBA (Professional Bowlers Association), while Stephanie DeVaan founded a political action committee and Rich Tong founded Ignition Partners, a VC firm."
That is just obscenely absurd for one company.
Too bad that list stops at 1997. I wish there was one that remained current... I'm sure their acquisitions accellerated over the last few years.
but that just proves they charge too much for their software. But since these are all guys who own stock I guess that is unrelated to income.
What I don't get is why these people still work. Bill can never "cash out" so he is not really worth that much. If he sold it all the stock would drop big time.
Of course. If I had several million I would not work and live comfortably on some tropical beach for thr rest of my life. Ok I got 10 million, I am out of here, I could give a damn about my company politices or charities. Let me relax the rest of my life drinking in some south pacific beach.
"And one William Gates put $53 million back into the economy the old fashioned way by building a house."
Along with over $25 billion to charitable causes.
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm
He deserves the house, I say.
- Rory [Microsoft Employee] | Free dirt: neopoleon.com
Tried shopping for a house in New York City? Being a millionaire used to mean you were rich. Now it just means you are middle class with some savings.
After all, Gates said he's going to give away all his money to charity before he dies. Most millionaires would spend this money on their childern to have many generations of wealth, fancy cars with spinning rims, or gambling in Las Vegas. I'm sure you've all seen MTV Cribs.
:-]
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"Whatever Bill Gates' flaws, and he has a lot, he has been very generous with his money."
Have you ever payed the Microsoft Tax even though you didn't want to? Part of "his" money is "your" money. Thanks for your charitable donation.
The sad truth is that the billion$ earned by microserfs are ours. We're the ones who own the mutual funds that invest in Microsoft. We're the ones who buy MSFT because we believe their Xbox 360 hype. And, until recently, we haven't seen anything in return (in the form of dividends, that is). It's incredible how we buy into the stock market shell game.
But these are people with a million in liquefiable assets. If you're a property millionaire (like me) you can only realise that money by refinancing your home (bad idea, interest rates are on the up) or selling (err, where would I live, the median price here is $1.2m ?) The M'soft employees can realise a million dollars in real money, that still makes them very wealthy by most standards.
$75,000 under $100,000 - 8,903,894 returns
, ,id=96981,00.html
$100,000 under $200,000 - 8,469,199
$200,000 under $500,000 - 2,018,372
$500,000 under $1,000,000 - 355,617
$1,000,000 under $1,500,000 - 85,479
$1,500,000 under $2,000,000 - 36,492
$2,000,000 under $5,000,000 - 52,157
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000 - 12,266
$10,000,000 or more - 6,836
21% of the tax returns pay roughly 55.9% of the Federal Income Tax, the 6836 at the top, pay 3% of the Federal Income Tax
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0
Can someone tell me the tax advantages of "charitable causes"? I often heard the philanthropic interests of the rich often had more to do with managing their taxes. Also, to what extent are his charitable donations are "real", either by not being tax write-offs, or, for example, software to schools that really costs FAR less than its advertised value and is actually of strategic benefit.
If you believe that Microsoft is a legitimate business earning a fair profit for its products, then his donations to charity are a wonderful example of philanthropy. OTOH if you believe that Microsoft gouges consumers by leveraging its monopoly OS position to stifle competition and keep software prices artificially inflated, then the $25 billion he's donated to charity probably would've done more good if left in the hands of the people who were overchargd. It'd be like a shop charging $5 per bottle of water for firefighters after 9/11, then donating the excess proceeds to charity. Yeah they donated a ton of money, but the firefighters were robbed of money that could've been put to other (better from a market standpoint) uses. A more accurate assessment would be that the firefighters were coerced into unwillingly making a donation to charity. Course we can argue forever about which view is correct; and in truth both views may be partially correct.
I don't understand why this is a problem. A "company" has goals. They figured out, as a company, how to achieve those goals. The people rewarded are the owners, and sometimes the employees. If the employees didn't get the cash, it'd have just gone to the owners. This should be perceived as a great thing!
The wealth of the company, and their employees is a testiment to the fine job they did, as measured by the votes of their customers, in the form of money spent.
Any comments that this is obscene is pure jealousy.
FTA:
As Mr. Sage put it, "It's like a little bit of Bill Gates came with us when we left."
So that's how they climbed up the corporate ladder. Good advice I suppose, if your boss is into that kind of thing.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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Hunger is a problem of distribution and politics. Remeber the famine in ethiopia in the 80's? How about the irish potatoe famine? How about the famine in the unkraine a few decades back? During all those crisis those countries continued to export food. The problem isn't just moving food there, it's making sure those people recieve the food. Other agencies like local war lords, corrupt governments, and bandits will always try to control the flow of essential goods because that is how they maintain power. If you want to stop hunger, simply buying enough food isn't enough. You need to transport it like the above posts says, as well as defend it, then find a means to avoid stampedes/riots when it's delivered. None of this is cheap. 100 billion wouldn't do it. Ask the US government how much it costs to wage that kind of war in one countr, your basically asking MS to do it in 100 more countries.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
I wonder where Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman will put their millions of dollars?
Oh wait!
Rather than Linus and Richard taking money out of your and my pockets to become millionaires, they instead worked hard, earned true respect, and gave back to the common community. And they did it all without forming a monopoly, engaging in illegal practices, and lobbying governments to enact repressive laws to bolster their ability to take money out of our pockets.
Who are the real people that are helping both themselves and humanity: the "Microsoft millionaires" or people like RMS and Linus?
But by 2002, she was itching to do more, so she put her wealth to work in support of abortion rights and helped to found a political action committee called Washington Women for Choice.
Although Republicans are usually pro-business, if it becomes common knowledge that Microsoft employees are dumping money into "abortion rights" groups, that could make the current administration's position on antitrust a lot less friendly towards Microsoft.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Not only do you get the tax advantages of being able to write off a portion of the charity, but if you happen to be so rich to afford your own "charitable foundation", there are other benefits as well!
For example, you can afford to pay your friends and family handsomely for their management of the foundation. (In politics this would be called a patronage appointment) In Bill's case, his Dad and a former Microsoft executive. Although I'm sure they just happen to be exactly the right kind of people to lead such an esteemed organization.
Also, you get the glamour and praise of fellow socialites and the plebs at large. This is especially helpful if you are battling an unfortunate image as a cold-hearted corporate capitalist. Now, folks like the grand-parent poster will kindly note your philanthropy at every turn. This is true even if your foundation does very little charitable work.
For example, if you check out the financials of the foundation you can see that they pay out three times less in contributions than what they make from investments!
How in the hell is the stinking hippie RMS helping humanity? Envisioning an operating system he couldn't get off the ground and writing an overcomplicated text editor, then living off award money and telling other people that they don't deserve to earn in the software industry? And your definition of not helping is a guy that, in all likelihood, doubled the American economy? Interesting thinking.
"Can someone tell me the tax advantages of 'charitable causes'?"
Yes.
When you're very, very poor - like most of us - it means that you get to save a few hundred dollars at the end of the year by giving to, say, the Salvation Army.
When you're very, very rich - like Gates - it means almost nothing. He has more money than he could ever possibly spend, with or without tax breaks. If he weren't really into this, then he wouldn't be doing it. Period.
- Rory [Microsoft Employee] | Free dirt: neopoleon.com
"Giving to charity in order to make up for bad business conduct, a bad reputation, and/or illegal conduct has a long, long history."
Wow.
I'd argue that famine and disease also have a long, long history.
Unfortunately, it seems that most of us have somehow gotten so wrapped up in our silly little arguments about which browser is better to be able to care.
I don't want to sound like Mr. Sourpants, but I'm guessing that if you're one out of four people living in Zimbabwe infected with HIV, you probably don't care about AJAX, plug-ins, or standards compliance - you're just glad that somebody's doing something.
- Rory [Microsoft Employee] | Free dirt: neopoleon.com
Any comments that this is obscene is pure jealousy.
I am jealous of the money they have. I do not make a lot of money, like a lot of people, and would really love to be at least a little better off. It is not the money itself that is obscene, but the way in which it was made. You state that their richness is a sign of the 'fine job they did'...
I disagree. It may be like that with some consumers, but they have systematically rigged it so they cannot be toppled and you are required to purchase their products with every computer you buy. In a business sense, that is a 'job well done', but if thats what it takes to be rich, I'll pass.
You can't legislate goodness. Let each to his own destiny, by will of his freely made choices.