Gates: Microsoft Dividend Boosted U.S. Personal Income In December

[ceejay]

http://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews...ahoo&referrer=

America's personal income skyrocketed in December by 3.7%. And that leap was turbocharged by the one-time-only dividend payment from Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ); the House That Gates Built paid out $3 per share on Dec. 2. The U.S. Department of Commerce on Monday said that December's income gain would have been a mere 0.6%, if not for the dividend payment.

With one of the most widely held stocks in the U.S., the software colossus forked over $32 billion. Compare that to the $38 billion that Uncle Sam paid out in federal income tax rebates in the summer of 2001. Gates earned $3.29 billion from the dividend payment; he says he'll donate his proceeds to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

[JustRalph]

Bill Gates should have received a medal from Bill Clinton for propping up the economy in the mid 90's...........and the guy gives away 750 million bucks for immunizations in foreign countries.............last week.

[Dick Schmidt]

Bill sure gets a lot of bad press (and private cursing) for someone who has given away more money than anyone else in history. Not even close, Bill is billions in front. Still, many prefer to blame him when their neglected Windows program gives them any sort of problem. After all, who cares about poor children when their computer crashes?????


Dick