Acting on a tip from one of our beloved readers, The Register took a peek at the recent securities trading history of Micro$oft Co-founder, Director and all around mysterious character Paul Allen. Allen, we confirmed, has unloaded roughly US $8 billion in company stock over the past twelve months, which leaves him holding a paltry 53 thousand shares, worth now a piddling $3.7 million due to recent unfavourable market forces. He appears not to have traded since early March, so the bulk of his roughly forty sales were in the very attractive range of $85--$95 per share, and typically in the range of 2--4 million each in volume. Apparently he needed a bit of pocket change. But we wonder why he's elected to divest so completely. Micro$oft now represents his smallest stake in any company by which he's listed as a principal. Surely it couldn't have anything to do with pessimism over the inevitable effects of numerous anti-trust remedies now being contemplated with devilish joy by the US Department of Justice. No, certainly not.... ®