January 03, 2004

RE: where will Microsoft be in the next few weeks?

Posted at 11:48 PM Feedback
I've lost the original feedback, but you can get the gist of it from my reply.
From: "Patrick Jennings"
To: "A Bearse"
Sent: Friday, December 17, 1999 7:46 AM
Subject: RE: where will Microsoft be in the next few weeks?

MSFT has, over the long haul, annually doubled in value since I began holding it in 1991. You can do the math.
At a company meeting a number of years ago, while I still worked for Microsoft, the Saturday Night Live comedian Dana Carvey MC'd the event. He was interviewing Bill Gates ala a late night talk show format (think Leno). --MS company meetings are like that: something of a media event-- Anyway, having already interviewed Steve Balmer and the late Mike Maples, Carvey just couldn't get over the fact that all these guys were billionaires, and that they also happened to be fasinating people. He asked Gates:
So, if I had bought 1,000 shares back in the 80's when they first came available, what would they be worth now?
Gates hardly batted an eye, shook his head once, before replying,
No, you'd have sold them too soon.
Cheers,

Patrick.

My memory's a bit sketchy on this, but I believe sometime in January Microsoft hit an all-time high, and put my investment in it about half way to 7 figures. Thereafter it began a year-long slide and by the end of December 2000 I'd defensively sold the last of it, leaving myself enough cash to pay off the next April's tax hit with a small stake to tide me through the next year or two.

I sometimes think about what might have been if I'd been a bit wiser with my investment. On the other hand, when I left Microsoft on April Fool's Day, 1994, it never occurred to me the run would last the better part of 8 years and bring opportunities to travel extensively through Australia, Asia and America.

Presently listening to:
Time Stand Still - Rush - Hold Your Fire (05:08)




 
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