The Securities & Exchange Commission is reporting that Microsoft gaming executive, Robbie Bach, sold over $6 million in stocks between May 2nd and July 5th.

According to the reports, Mr. Bach sold approximately $6.2 million in Microsoft shares during that time period.  This information is significant for several reasons:

- July 5th was when Microsoft announced it would be taking a $1.5 billion charge related to repairing Xbox 360 “Red Ring Of Death” instances, which has been a prevalent problem since the console’s launch and indicates a hardware failure.

- In the eight months prior to May 2nd, Mr. Bach sold no stock.

According to SEC rules, any insider stock sales must be filed with the overseeing body of stock trading two days prior to the sale so that the market is aware it’s coming.  $3 million in stocks was sold on May 1st, and seems okay, but the additional $3 million was not registered in a “timely fashion”.  The late-filing process has been followed and the sales are now in full compliance.

During the July 5th announcement, Mr. Bach said “In the last couple of months, we started to see significant increases in repair requests … and significant attention from people”

While the SEC is saying he is now in full compliance, it does still look a little odd to have sold so much stock close to a major release of information that would impact the entire company for a long time to come.

Related:

Xbox 360 sales down compared to last year - Microsoft profits up

No more Xbox 360 red ring of death repairs

GTA 4 causing Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death - In addition to PS3 issues

Microsoft cost-cutting to blame for Xbox 360 Red Ring Of Death

Xbox 360 boss apologises for Red Ring of Death and Xbox Live

Entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 6:02 pm under Opinion, Xbox 360.

Read more entries by Sean P. Aune.
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