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| The Concentration of Foreign Based Investment Managers in Public Pensions in
| the United States. Gates foundation liquidating every share of Microsoft
| stock and impact on Linux development also discussed.
|
| [...]
|
|
| At the same time Bill Gates has aggressively used his foundation to invest in
| defense and media related companies and thereby allow himself to leverage
| growth of the Windows operating system in new environments by being a major
| shareholder. One prominent example is the foundations investment in the
| Mexican media conglomerate Televisa. Via this investment and subsequent
| mergers Microsoft now indirectly controls the radio and television broadcasts
| in Spanish to more than 75 percent of all Latinos in the United States.
|
| If foundations like the Gates foundations receive tax-exempt treatment for
| security sales, they should be required to be fully disclosed. Only then
| will the free market system work. Linux users in particular should be
| pressing for such disclosures because only then will the playing field be
| level. Thinking that a more superior product will prevail in such an
| environment is simply naive.
`----
http://www.billparish.com/20040223persforeigngatesfoundation.html
Related:
Microfraud?
,----[ Quote ]
| THE ALLEGATIONS WERE shocking: For years, Microsoft has systematically
| distorted its profit figures in an effort to consistently beat Wall Street
| expectations and keep its stock price steadily rising. The false reports
| would violate SEC regulations, and amount to outright fraud.
|
| More shocking was the source of the allegations: Microsoft's chief of
| internal audits, Charlie Pancerzewski, who reported directly to the company's
| chief financial officer.
|
| Most shocking of all was what happened to Pancerzewski when he reported the
| suspicious bookkeeping to his supervisors, Microsoft CFO Mike Brown and chief
| operating officer Bob Herbold, in the spring of 1995. Soon afterward,
| Pancerzewski—who for nearly five years had received stellar performance
| evaluations—received his first-ever unsatisfactory one, and was eventually
| forced to resign.
|
| Two months ago, Microsoft quietly settled a lawsuit containing these
| allegations, filed in 1997 by Pancerzewski under the Whistleblowers
| Protection Act. The auditor claimed he was wrongfully terminated after
| telling his supervisors that Microsoft might be breaking securities and tax
| laws. The lawsuit made its tortuous way through several rounds of pretrial
| motions until last fall, when US District Judge Carolyn Dimmick denied
| Microsoft's final plea for summary judgment, finding credible evidence that
| Microsoft may have violated SEC rules, as Pancerzewski alleged. Shortly
| thereafter, Microsoft and Pancerzewski settled out of court. Terms of the
| agreement were sealed, but one source who claims familiarity with the case
| says that Microsoft paid Pancerzewski $4 million.
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http://web.archive.org/web/20070308032343rn_2/www.seattleweekly.com/1999-01-06/news/microfraud.php
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