http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-26/greenlight-s-ein...
> Greenlight Capital Inc. President David Einhorn called for Microsoft Corp.’s board to replace Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, saying the software maker suffers from “Charlie Brown management."
Einhorn is the president of Greenlight capital, a hedge fund.
> Greenlight, a New York-based hedge fund, added 1.39 million Microsoft shares last quarter, for a total of 9.07 million, according to a filing. The stake is worth $230.2 million. Microsoft’s shares have underperformed the S&P 500 in four of the past five quarters.
Also from this article:
> Ballmer is the company’s second-biggest shareholder -- with more than 333 million shares, or almost 4 percent. Co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates owns more than 561 million shares, or a 6.7 percent stake, according to Bloomberg data.
So Bill Gates + Steve Ballmer don't own 33%, as has been stated elsewhere, but "only" 6.7 percent of this $200bn company.
333 million shares = 4.0% for Ballmer
561 million shares = 6.7% for Gates
So the combined total is:
894 million shares = 10.7% for Gates + BallmerI guess I thought the first line of the linked article (the one this whole post is about) was sufficient:
David Einhorn, the head of the hedge fund Greenlight Capital
I suspect that many thought that "lead investor" meant that he is personally a lead investor in Microsoft. English has plenty of room for everyone to be right there (but you are correct - I'd have preferred people to explain their downvotes). I didn't write the title, though.
Mr. Einhorn, a long-time Microsoft shareholder, said at the Ira Sohn Conference that the company had floundered under Mr. Ballmer’s stewardship, missing major opportunities in establishing tablet products to compete with Apple and wasting money on ill-conceived mergers and acquisitions.
Second paragraph. Emphasis added