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Bill Gates gets even more to smile about

Microsoft shares reach their highest level in six years, recalling the tech boom of 2000.

By Times wires
Published October 27, 2007

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates grew $2.67-billion richer Friday after his company trounced analysts' estimates for sales and profit, propelling the shares to their highest level in six years.

The stock climbed 9.5 percent.

The shares climbed $3.04, to $35.03, on Nasdaq Stock Market trading Friday after earlier trading as high as $36.03.

Friday's gain echoes one in October 2000, when Microsoft shares surged a record 20 percent on sales of the Windows 2000 operating system.

Gates, Microsoft's biggest shareholder, owns a 9.3 percent stake in the software company. Steve Ballmer, the company's chief executive, owns 4.3 percent of the company, which means the value of his holdings climbed by $1.24 billion.

The two haven't seen gains like that since the heyday of the technology boom in 2000, when the stock traded at almost twice Friday's price. Microsoft reignited investor interest with sales of the Windows Vista operating system and the Halo 3 video game, both of which performed better than analysts predicted.

First-quarter net income increased 23 percent, to $4.29-billion, or 45 cents a share, beating the 39-cent average of 15 projections in a survey by Bloomberg. Sales advanced 27 percent, to $13.8-billion, driven by orders for the pricier versions of Vista and the debut of Halo 3.

Gates' stake in the company is valued at $30.7-billion and Ballmer's at $14.3-billion.

[Last modified October 26, 2007, 23:02:40]