The WMF has an investment policy to invest in assets which are globally seen as low risk. Over the fiscal year investment in US Treasury securities dropped from 73M$ to 15M$. Most likely the WMF has sold US Treasury securities with a big loss. Interest rates have gone up in the past, which results in lower market value for bonds, including US Treasury securities.
On Wed, Nov 9, 2022 at 8:36 PM Steven Walling <steven.wall...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Wed, Nov 9, 2022 at 10:37 AM Andreas Kolbe <jayen...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Dear WMF Finance staff, >> >> I inquired over a week ago on Meta-Wiki why the WMF is reporting a >> negative investment income (–$12 million). There has been no answer to >> date.[1] >> >> I am a layperson, but how can an investment income be negative? Would you >> mind sharing what this is about? >> > > You probably didn't get a prompt answer because "how can investment income > be negative" is something you could have Googled before asking the finance > team. > > Investments can lose value.* The US stock market has lost a tremendous > amount of value over the last year, so it would not be surprising that most > investments would have a negative return recently. > > * https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/negative-return.asp > https://www.finra.org/investors/investing/investing-basics/risk > > I was also surprised to find that the reported increase in net assets for >> the 2021–2022 financial year was "only" $8.2 million. The third-quarter F&A >> tuning session published in May (based on data as of March 31) forecast a >> far higher surplus, with an increase in net assets of $25.9 million.[2] >> >> Would you mind sharing what happened in the fourth quarter to reduce the >> surplus by so much? >> >> Best wishes, >> Andreas >> >> [1] >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports/Financial/Audits/2021-2022_-_frequently_asked_questions >> [2] >> https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AF%26A_Tuning_Session_FY21-22_Q3.pdf&page=5 >> >> On Tue, Nov 1, 2022 at 3:45 PM Andreas Kolbe <jayen...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Dear all, >>> >>> The WMF's audited financial statements are now available here: >>> >>> >>> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/26/Wikimedia_Foundation_FY2021-2022_Audit_Report.pdf >>> >>> Some key figures from the page numbered 4 (page 6 in the pdf): >>> >>> – Net invest income was negative: –$12M (down $16M) >>> – Total support and revenue was $155M (down $8M due to that negative >>> investment income) >>> – Total expenses were $146M (up $34M) >>> – Salaries and wages were $88M (up $20M) >>> – Net assets at end of year increased by $8M >>> >>> For reference, the end-of-year increase in net assets forecast in the >>> third-quarter Finance & Administration tuning session deck published in May >>> 2022 was $25.9M: >>> >>> >>> https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AF%26A_Tuning_Session_FY21-22_Q3.pdf&page=5 >>> >>> Best, >>> Andreas >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/5M36VZBWLE6P4XCDAVL7L3FEPGNSSQNX/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/QHIQDCPCDC2D7FQROP6ACC4C2JUBP5D5/ > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org
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