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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.
The same reason some of us would do our jobs for free, as we either enjoy them enough or think they are important enough.
"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.
Apparently you don't understand what it means to charge too much.
Charging too much puts you in the poorhouse. Charging what the market is willing to bear makes you wealthy.
It sounds to me as if they are charging correctly. Now, if you want to argue that they have monopolist tactics and such, well, you could build an argument, but to say that charging too much made them wealthy merely shows that you are arguing that MS should be some sort of charitable organization.
I don't think that I would ever go to any company VP (and I know a few) and tell them "You know, we make too much money around here, lets lower prices."
"What I don't get is why these people still work."
...not really hurting for cash. There are limits to how much money you can spend in a day, you know?
:)
Most of us sign on to Microsoft because we *want* to work for Microsoft.
Although I'm not one of these millionaire people, I know a couple, and they come to work every day because they love their jobs.
"Bill can never 'cash out' so he is not really worth that much."
Um.
He's, uh...
Well...
Plus, he worked his ass off to build the company. Why would he want to "cash out" of that? It's obvious that his interest in the company goes well beyond the dough.
"If I had several million I would not work and live comfortably on some tropical beach for thr rest of my life."
And that, my friend, is probably why you don't have $10 million
The few wealthy people I know are all workaholics.
Unless they inherited the stuff. God, those people are annoying.
- Rory [Microsoft Employee] | Free dirt: neopoleon.com
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.
:-]
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.
Remember kids, economics is not a zero-sum game. This is how wealth is created.
Love MSFT or hate it, this is what "makes America great".
My first computer cost $2500 - if I had bought MSFT at that time, and sold it at the peak, I'd be a MSFT millionaire too (just not as an employee).
Yup, hard work, good luck, and the lack of brutal warlords means anyone in the US can make millions - but it takes years and years of hard work, don't forget that part.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
$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."
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!
"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.