Dell hammered over record Q3
,----[ Quote ]
| Investors appeared to agree with Dell's inadequacy complex. As this story
| makes its way to the web, Dell shares have shed 10 per cent of their value in
| after-hours trading. "Thanks for nothing, Mike."
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/30/dell_q3/
They are probably cooking the books, just like Microsoft and Novell. Even Apple
was caught. It's just like Enron and other companies, including SCO. They keep
up appearance by bending and breaking the rules.
Related:
Dell accounting probe finds possible 'misconduct'
,----[ Quote ]
| Last year analyst firm Friedman Billings Ramsey criticized the
| way Dell accounted for warranties, saying the company used an
| "unusual" method for accounting for the money it takes in from
| warranty sales and the money it reserves to handle expected
| warranty claims.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6171818.html
Investors sue Dell on payments from Intel: WSJ
,----[ Quote ]
| An investor lawsuit seeking class-action status accuses Dell Inc. of
| improper accounting in its relationship with chip giant Intel,
| according to a media report published Thursday evening.
|
| [...]
|
| The suit alleges that Dell received at times as much as $1 billion
| a year in "secret and likely illegal" kickbacks in the form of
| "e-Cap" or "exception to corporate average pricing" payments"
| from Intel to ensure that Dell used no other chip supplier,
| according to The Journal.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/investors-sue-dell-payments-intel/story.aspx?guid=%7B400315B0%2DE375%2D4920%2DB300%2D784220BEFE35%7D&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo
Two execs quit in Dell shakeout
,----[ Quote ]
| The company will lose senior vice president John Hamlin, who runs
| Dells global online business as senior vice president, and fellow
| SVP Paul McKinnon, who heads the HR operation, according to
| emails leaked to the Austin American-Statesman.
`----
http://www.computerbusinessreview.com/article_news.asp?guid=0239FC63-FB7B-4D99-8726-C9BB557EF140
Another Dell executive departs
,----[ Quote ]
| Dell is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange
| Commission for accounting issues.
`----
http://news.com.com/2061-10810_3-6158930.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
Options troubles aren't over for Apple
,----[ Quote ]
| But one of the accused -- former Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson --
| pointed a finger at his former boss, Steve Jobs, raising new accusations
| that experts say could land Jobs in some legal hot water if true.
|
| [...]
|
| Gene Munster, a financial analyst at Piper Jaffray, said Anderson's
| accusations will fuel investors' worries over Jobs and his critical role in
| Apple's continued success.
|
| "It gives the appearance that, 'I had a partner in crime and it was Steve
| Jobs,'" Munster said.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/ap_on_hi_te/apple_stock_options
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
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
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
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
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/
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
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
|
|
