Exec in Charge of Xbox 360 Sells Stock Weeks Before Revealing Design Flaw
According to SEC filings, Robbie Bach (seen left), the Executive in charge of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division sold nearly twenty percent (or ftwo-hundred thousand) of his holdings in Microsoft between 3 May 2007 and 30 May 2007. In total, those sales generated a cool $6.1 Million for Bach.
Keep in mind that earlier this month, Bach was with Peter Moore as the two explained in a conference call the problems that the Xbox 360 was facing, including the Red Ring of Death. Bach had been widely quoted as saying “Over the past couple of months, the number of repairs for the Xbox 360 console have been unacceptable to us” during the call. Bach also explained during that very same conference call that Microsoft had been aware for some time about the flaws, saying “This set of issues wasn’t visible at all for the first year and more… [in] the past couple of months, we’ve seen a significant increase in call volume, repair volume and attention from people.”
Now, while this seems peculiar at best, I wouldn’t be so quick to point at Bach to accuse him of any insider trading. At the time Bach was trading and selling his holdings, other top brass at Microsoft were doing the same. There was also NO trading being conducted in the months prior, so it may be that Microsoft’s trade window is in May.
…besides, even if Bach WAS trying to dump his stick in preparation of the bad news, it wouldn’t have helped him much. The day of the announcement, Microsoft’s stock went down by $.02. …yes, two cents.
So far Microsoft has declined to comment.
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November 15th, 2007 at 6:28 am
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