Now valued above $3 trillion, Microsoft (MSFT +2.02%) is one of the largest companies in the world. With roughly 800,000 shares, CEO Satya Nadella is one of the company's biggest shareholders. His stake is worth a cool $339 million.
But there may be another person who owns more Microsoft stock than Nadella. In fact, there may be two larger shareholders.
NASDAQ: MSFT
Key Data Points
These two people possibly own the most Microsoft stock
According to Microsoft's latest proxy filing with the SEC, there's only one company insider besides Nadella that owns more than 500,000 shares. That's Brad Smith, the company's vice chair and president. According to Microsoft, Smith "leads a team of roughly 2,000 business, legal and corporate affairs professionals located in 54 countries and operating in more than 120 nations." His total ownership equates to 554,587 shares worth roughly $235 million.
Only one other person comes even close to Smith's ownership level, and that's CFO Amy Hood. She owns a total of 484,692 shares when including deferred compensation.
There is a twist to this story, however. The SEC only requires company insiders and those that own more than 5% of a company's stock to disclose their stakes publicly. Therefore, there's a chance that the largest owners of Microsoft stock today include former CEO Steve Ballmer. As of his last disclosure, Ballmer owned a massive stake of 333 million shares. Today, that would be worth around $140 billion, though it is impossible to know how many shares he still has. That's because he is no longer required to disclose his stake publicly.
What about Bill Gates? He left the company in early 2021. As with Ballmer, he also owns less than 5% of the company's shares, so it's unclear exactly what his remaining stake is. But as of his last disclosure in 2021, Gates owned roughly 103 million shares, which today would be worth around $42 billion. The rest of his holdings were donated to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, which still retains a stake of around 36 million shares.
