“When Steve Jobs died last month, he left $6.78 billion of stock in both Apple and Disney presumably to his wife and family,” Barbara E. Hernandez reports for NBC Bay Area.
“His widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, may not have a better time to sell off the billions of stock and avoid $867 million in capital gains taxes,” Hernandez reports. “Financial planners told Bloomberg that Powell Jobs and the family should quickly divest and diversify its holdings to avoid higher taxes.”
Hernandez reports, “Capital gains taxes are set to rise in 2013 from 15 to 20 percent, and Americans with a high income may also be subjected to a 3.8 percent tax on unearned gains… Before his death, Jobs moved the shares into a trust to avoid probate fees. However, his will hasn’t been made public, but it’s likely most of his estate is distributed between his surviving wife and four children. ‘I can’t see any reason not to sell all of it,’ Kacy Gott, chief planning officer at the wealth-management firm Aspiriant, told Bloomberg… That could mean millions of [AAPL] shares will be on the open market and possibly in the hands of private equity groups — likely not Steve Jobs’ or Apple’s ideal scenario.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jungle” for the heads up.]