Microsoft shares closed at $28.38 today, up 47 cents, or 1.7 percent. For the first quarter of 2008, which ends today, Microsoft is down about 20 percent. The stock is up slightly from a year ago.

The company today filed details of its 2003 Employee Stock Purchase Plan with the SEC. Among other things, the filing reports the number of shares employees purchase through the plan in each of the past three years. (Recall that in July 2004, the company changed the discount granted to employees from 15 percent to 10 percent off market price, so fair comparisons can only be made starting with 2005 -- the first full year under the current terms of the plan.)

Here are the number of shares purchased through the plan, the number of employees Microsoft reported at June 30, and a rough estimate of shares purchased per employee for each year:

2007: 16,774,379 shares; 78,565 employees; 213.5 shares/employee.

2006: 17,288,724 shares; 71,172 employees; 242.9 shares/employee.
2005: 17,075,478 shares; 61,000 employees; 279.9 shares/employee.

So, in 2007, there were at least 7,393 more Microsoft employees (I say at least because the aQuantive acquisition closed after June 30, 2007, adding 2,600 more workers) than in 2006, yet, as a group, they bought 514,345 fewer shares. Granted, Microsoft's stock was trading higher for most of 2007 than it was in 2006. But as you can see, the trend extends back to 2006 vs. 2005.

Any employees want to chime in on why you're buying less company stock through the program?