The Microsoft-Yahoo merger: Yes, privacy is an antitrust concern
,----[ Quote ]
| The same day that Microsoft announced it was about to offer $44.6 billion
| offer for Yahoo, Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), chairman of the Senate
| Antitrust Subcommittee, issued a statement: “We will need to scrutinize the
| deal carefully to ensure that it will not cause any harm to the
| competitiveness of what has been a vibrant high tech marketplace, nor
| negatively impact the privacy rights of internet users.”
`----
http://www.antitrustinstitute.org/archives/files/Microsoft-Yahoo%20Lande%20privacy_030220081748.pdf
Related:
Microsoft says to borrow money for Yahoo deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp said on Monday it may borrow money for the first time in its
| history to fund a portion of its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo
| Inc.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN0455692920080205
Microsoft's 10-Q on the impact of litigation
,----[ Quote ]
| Antitrust, unfair competition, and overcharge class actions. A large number
| of antitrust and unfair competition class action lawsuits have been filed
| against us in various state, federal, and Canadian courts on behalf of
| various classes of direct and indirect purchasers of our PC operating system
| and certain other software products. We obtained dismissals of damages claims
| of indirect purchasers under federal law and in 15 states. Courts refused to
| certify classes in two additional states. We have reached agreements to
| settle all claims that have been made to date in 19 states....
|
| Other antitrust litigation and claims. In November 2004, Novell, Inc. filed a
| complaint in U.S. District Court in Utah, now consolidated with other cases
| in Maryland, asserting antitrust and unfair competition claims against us
| related to Novell’s ownership of WordPerfect and other productivity
| applications during the period between June 1994 and March 1996. ...
|
| Patent and intellectual property claims. We are vigorously defending more
| than 45 patent infringement cases. ...
|
| Adverse outcomes in some or all of the matters described in this section may
| result in significant monetary damages or injunctive relief against us that
| would adversely affect distribution of our operating system or application
| products. We may enter into material settlements because of these risks. ...
|
| As of December 31, 2007, we had accrued aggregate liabilities of
| approximately $840 million in other current liabilities and approximately
| $660 million in other long-term liabilities for all of the contingent matters
| described in this note. While we intend to vigorously defend these matters,
| there exists the possibility of adverse outcomes that we estimate could be up
| to $4.1 billion in aggregate beyond recorded amounts. Were unfavorable final
| outcomes to occur, there exists the possibility of a material adverse impact
| on our financial position and on the results of operations for the period in
| which the effects become reasonably estimable.
`----
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/789019/000119312508011476/d10q.htm
Debt in Disguise
,----[ Quote ]
| The purpose of securitization is to make the credit rating of the company
| practically irrelevant in a financing, so that even in a bankruptcy the
| receivables cash flow will be protected....
|
| The rating agencies also rely greatly on legal constructs that say the
| payment stream to investors will not be hindered. For instance, the transfer
| of receivables to the SPE must be a "true sale." That is, the seller must not
| retain too much of the reward or the risk coming from the asset, says Robert
| Hahn, a partner with Hunton & Williams LLP. In addition, the SPE has to
| be "nonrecourse" — in other words, the company's creditors must not have
| claim to the assets of the SPE if the originating company goes bankrupt.
|
| "Securitization divorces the creditworthiness of the [company] from the
| credit of the pool," says Mark Spradling, a partner with Vinson & Elkings
| LLP. "True sale and nonconsolidation are part of that separation."
|
| But the opinion that legal control of receivables has passed to a third party
| has not been litigated in the bankruptcy courts....
|
| Tapping the capital markets without a lending bank in between means that even
| non-investment-grade companies can finance at near what triple-A companies
| pay.
`----
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/10013957/c_10203909?f=home_todayinfinance&x=1
Microsoft's Last Big Beat: Internet Domination or Death
,----[ Quote ]
| What can $44.6B USD mean? Well, for Microsoft (MSFT) it may mean the cost of
| survival.
`----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/63876-microsoft-s-last-big-beat-internet-domination-or-death?source=yahoo
Feeling the heat at Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| A couple of years ago you reiterated that IBM was Microsoft's biggest
| competitor and you said not just on the business side, but overall. If I ask
| you who is Microsoft's biggest competitor now, who would it be?
|
| Ballmer: Open...Linux. I don't want to say open source. Linux, certainly have
| to go with that.
`----
http://www.news.com/Feeling-the-heat-at-Microsoft/2008-1012_3-6232458.html?tag=ne.fd.mnbc
|
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