With 333 million shares, whatever embarrassment Steve Ballmer may feel as he sees Microsoft Corp. shares rally on news of his retirement is tempered by getting a whole lot richer.

Getty Images Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

Microsoft shares jumped nearly 9% at the open and were recently up 7.8% at $34.73. Using mid-morning prices, he\’s about $800 million richer. Or, assuming a Rolex gold watch goes for $30,000 (a quick Google search shows some at this price), he can buy himself about 27,000 worth. And this isn\’t even looking at stock options.

The top shareholder in Microsoft is still Bill Gates, with 398 million shares. Index giant Vanguard holds about 358 million shares.

Other big shareholders are what you\’d expect: fund giants SSgA, BlackRock, Capital Research and Fidelity.

Hedge fund ValueAct, which per FactSet data has built a 0.7% stake, has made itself about $138 million on Friday.

— Steve Goldstein

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