Activist investor Morfit Mason and ValueAct sold $500 million in Microsoft stock

Back in 2013, Microsoft signed a cooperation agreement with ValueAct Capital which owns approximately 0.8 percent of the outstanding shares of Microsoft common stock and is one of the company’s largest shareholders. As part of this agreement, Microsoft said that they will arrange regular meetings between Mason Morfit, president of ValueAct Capital, and selected Microsoft directors and management to discuss a range of significant business issues. Microsoft also allowed Morfit to join the Microsoft board. You can learn more about his thoughts on Microsoft here.

According to the latest SEC regulatory filings, Mason Morfit and ValueAct sold about 7 million shares of Microsoft’ stock worth over $500 million over the past one week. Microsoft’s shares have gone up nearly 125 percent since Staya Nadella took the top job at the company. Since Microsoft’s stock is trading around all-time-high range, ValueAct might have thought of capitalizing on it. It also indicates that they are not expecting Microsoft’s stock to grow significantly in the near term.