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[News] [Rival] What's Good For Microsoft is Good for -Amer-... Ballmer & Gates

  • Subject: [News] [Rival] What's Good For Microsoft is Good for -Amer-... Ballmer & Gates
  • From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:25:06 +0000
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Organization: Netscape / schestowitz.com
  • User-agent: KNode/0.10.4
Microsoft's $528 million Washington tax break

,----[ Quote ]
| When I heard that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates had invoked the 
| phrase "creative capitalism" at last month's World Economic Forum in Davos, 
| Switzerland, it reminded me how Microsoft avoids paying taxes on 
| Washington-made software by selling it through Nevada. Since 1997, I 
| estimate, the company has avoided paying more than $528 million in state 
| taxes while racking up $92 billion in profit and distributing more than $42 
| billion in dividends to shareholders. Microsoft's creative capitalism has 
| deprived Washington state a lot of tax revenue it needs to pay for critical 
| infrastructure such as replacing the aging 520 bridge that many of its 
| employees use to get to and from corporate headquarters in Redmond.         
`----

http://www.crosscut.com/microsoft/11167/Microsoft's+%24528+million+Washington+tax+break/


Related (last month and all _ON THE SAME DAY_):

Wis. Bill to Require Tax Loophole Data

,----[ Quote ]
| Wisconsin Bill Would Require More Reporting on Tax Loopholes
| 
| [...]
| 
| A message left with Microsoft was not immediately returned.
`----

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071219/wi_corporate_taxes.html?.v=4


Microsoft Declares Quarterly Dividend

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. today announced that its board of directors declared a 
| quarterly dividend of $0.11 per share. The dividend is payable March 13, 2008 
| to shareholders of record on February 21, 2008. The ex-dividend date will be 
| February 19, 2008.   
`----

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071219/aqw142.html?.v=25


Ex-CEO vouches for convicted colleague

,----[ Quote ]
| The former chief executive of Brocade Communications Systems Inc. vouched for 
| his co-defendant in a closely watched stock options backdating case, 
| asserting in documents unsealed Wednesday that she didn't know she was 
| executing improper transactions.   
`----

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071220/ap_on_hi_te/brocade_stock_options


Related:

,----[ Quote ]
| My background is finance and accounting....
|
| However, the Gates Buffet foundation grant is nothing more than a shell
| game in which control of assets for both Gates and Buffet remain the same.
|
| THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH BY THESE TWO WILL BE
| MUCH MORE MASSIVE BECAUSE THEY WILL NO LONGER HAVE TO PAY ANY TAXES.
`----

http://www.mail-archive.com/futurew...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/msg03323.html 


Ecuador Tax Agency Closes Microsoft Branch Offices For 7 Days

,----[ Quote ]
| "We have twice requested balances, payment reports and complete tax 
| information, but the company hasn't given it to us, so in accordance with our 
| laws we have proceeded with the closure," the SRI official in charge of the 
| proceeding said.   
`----

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200710041610DOWJONESDJONLINE000810_FORTUNE5.htm


Microsoft Office raid in Hungary

,----[ Quote ]
| "Such behavior could lead to the exclusion of competitive products from 
| the market and violate European Union rules, according to the authority 
| known as the GVH."
`----

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/26/ap3957835.html


Microsoft's past stock options practice poses questions

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft in 1999 announced that it would end a policy of awarding
| options at monthly lows and said it would take a $217 million charge,
| though many details of that discontinued practice haven't been widely
| known, The Wall Street Journal said Friday.
|
| Those details raise questions about how Microsoft began the practice,
| what prompted the company to end it and whether the way the options
| were dated--at 30-day lows the month after they were
| granted--influenced other companies, it said.
`----

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6084617.html


Microsoft Hides Its Mobile and Business Apps Divisions

,----[ Quote ]
| The company is folding its two worst-performing divisions -- Microsoft
| Business Solutions (its business applications unit) and its Mobile and
| Embedded units -- into the Microsoft Business Division and Microsoft Home
| and Entertainment units, respectively.
`---- 

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1990243,00.asp?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535


How Much is Too Much?

,----[ Summary ]
| Microsoft says it will stick with Xbox. But with years of heavy losses
| behind it, the pressure's on for the gaming division to make good
`----

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2006/id20061013_283856.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories
http://tinyurl.com/yxdr4j


Microsoft stoic despite massive losses

,----[ Quote ]
| If you were to judge by the PR rhetoric, you'd think the 360 was
| an unstoppable commercial juggernaut. As usual though, PR lies.
`----

http://www.gamerscan.com/articles/06/10/09/microsofts.massive.losses/


A Dozen Stocks For '07

,----[ Quote ]
| Millen also thinks $36 billion in planned share buybacks
| will help the stock.
`----

http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/05/stocks-markets-investing-pf-ii-cz_ag_1205stockpicks.html?partner=yahootix
http://tinyurl.com/yjzfbo


Microsoft counts on Vista to recharge stagnant stock

,----[ Quote ]
| There was a time in the 1990s when shares of Microsoft stock seemed to
| double every couple of years. 1996: college for the kids. 1998: a place
| on Whidbey. 1999: early retirement.
|
| Times have changed.
`---- 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003437957_vista19.html


Commentary: Microsoft needs more than just buybacks to lift its shares

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft shares, which have been dormant for the last few years,
| have been looking up over the last couple months. The Dow industrials
| component has gained about 20% since hitting a 4-year low of $21.46 o
| June 13.
|
| To help move things along, Microsoft not only launched a $40 billion
| stock repurchase program that lasts through 2011, the company also said
| its previously announced 4-year, $30 billion stock buyback program was
| completed in just 2 years.
`----

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B685EFB89%2D5791%2D4E8B%2DAD6A%2D9688F5B6012A%7D&source=blq%2Fyhoo&dist=yhoo&siteid=yhoo


Software Notebook: Microsoft's cash pile isn't what it used to be

,----[ Quote ]
| But Microsoft has taken a series of steps to reduce its cash
| balance. Specifically, by Microsoft's count, the company has
| paid out nearly $100 billion through dividends and repurchasing
| its own stock in the past five years.
`----

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/309852_software02.html


Loot: Redmond, We Have a Problem, Or, What's Wrong With the Xbox 360

,----[ Quote ]
| At this point, Former becomes impassioned. That's not fair, he says;
| we always saw this as a long-term venture. To which we reply that we
| were talking about the original Xbox, and while other divisions of
| the company throw off more profits in a single quarter than the
| entire $5 billion or so lost in the home and entertainment division
|        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| to date, the fact remains that, as we take-our-word-for-it predicted,
| the Xbox group has been spectacularly unprofitable for Microsoft.
| Hence, our heretofore unpublished Vietnam analogy. The rest of the
| night is a blur, but we digress.
| 
| [...]
| 
| The worst case scenario for Microsoft, then, is one in which the Xbox
| 360's bid for the mass market is blocked by the Wii for the next two to
| three years, at which point the aging and underpowered Wii gives way
| to a cheaper-than-it-is-now PS3 with a selection of AAA titles that's
| far wider than what the PS3 has at the moment; new installments of
| Playstation's own popular and casual-leaning games; and a slew of
| new franchises from Sony's much-larger studio operation.
`----

http://ncroal.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=533168


The Secret Failures of Microsoft

,----[ Quote ]
| There is no choice involved; even most Linux users are forced to pay for a
| Microsoft license in order to obtain a brand name PC.
|
| [...]
|
| They are bound to an oath to swear allegiance to Windows XP Professional,
| and must never mention Linux and Windows in the same breath. If they step
| out of line in any way, Microsoft dramatically raises their OEM licensing
| fees and sends them to indoctrination camp, where they face chairs being
| hurled at them by angry monkeys.
|
| [...]
|
| Why do Windows enthusiasts exibit much hostility to an obvious fact?
| Because if they admit that 80% of the company's revenues come entirely
| from an OEM tax, and not from any choice on the part of consumers...
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft's decade of investments in WinCE and Windows Mobile
| Smartphones have only barely matched the market share of Palm, which
| itself is a run down company out of ideas. Microsoft couldn't
| out-maneuver the incompetent Palm within a decade of trying; now both
| are ineffectually fighting over the dying PDA industry while Linux and
| Symbian slaughter them in the smartphone arena:
|  
| Symbian 75%; Linux 14%; Microsoft 5%; Palm 5%.
|
| [...]
|
| (many more failures listed)
`----

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/2E6D9BB2-FE1B-4556-8389-67BD581FBCCC.html


Microsoft exec dumped stock prior to Red Ring announcement

,----[ Quote ]
| To make matters more murky, the sales were not registered with the Securities 
| and Exchange Commission within the mandatory two days of the transaction, a 
| result of an alleged "administrative error." Microsoft has since remedied the 
| issue by following the "procedures required of late-filers."   
`----

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/08/14/microsoft-exec-dumped-stocks-prior-to-red-ring-addresment


Microsoft's Bach sold more stock before Xbox news

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. executive Robbie Bach sold $3 million more in company stock 
| during the period leading up to an announcement about a costly flaw in its 
| Xbox video game console than previously reported, according to a filing 
| Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.   
`----

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/microsofts-bach-sold-additional-stock/story.aspx?guid=%7BBECA3A50-EF33-4161-A111-A43BDC8B0462%7D&siteid=yhoof


Insider Trading Hasn't Affect Microsoft Stock - Yet

,----[ Quote ]
| MarketWatch.com reports that Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's
| Entertainment and Devices division, sold $6.2 million of Microsoft
| stock just prior to announcing that Microsoft was going to have to 
| extend XBox 360 warranties to three years because of extensive 
| failures. The filings note that this was not part of any 
| scheduled diversification or selling program; this was a 
| conscious, unscheduled sale by the guy in charge of releasing 
| news that could affect the value of Microsoft stock.
| 
| [...]
| 
| Insider trading is a very serious violation of the law; just 
| ask Martha Stewart, who served five months in prison for 
| avoiding losses of $43,000 through trades that just had suspicious 
| timing (no insider trading was actually proven). This is $6.3 
| million that went straight into Robbie Bach's pocket.
`----

http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/070713/40947_id.html?.v=1

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