Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has offloaded half of his stake in the company in multiple tranches in November.
Nadella has sold approximately 840,000 shares for over $285 million, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Redmond-based company in a statement said, Nadella got rid of the shares “for personal financial planning and diversification reasons,” according to a GeekWire report.
“He is committed to the continued success of the company and his holdings significantly exceed the holding requirements set by the Microsoft Board of Directors,” the company said.
The Wall Street Journal quoted analysts as saying that the move has come in the light of the impending implementation of capital gains tax law by Washington state.
The contentious law, which will come into effect on January 1, 2022, impacts firm ownership sales and imposes a 7% tax on stock trades over $250,000.
Washington state’s new capital gains tax is expected to garner $550 million annually.
Nadella became the CEO of a technology giant in 2015 and has taken the company to new heights since then. Microsoft shares were trading around $36.35 when he took the charge in February 2014.
Demand for cloud computing and Windows-powered workstations fueled Microsoft’s quarterly results, which were disclosed in October and blasted past market estimates.
The US IT behemoth reported a $20.5 billion profit in the most recent quarter on revenue of $45.3 billion, up 22% over the same period last year.