BILL--this doesn't sound as bad as you reported:
*MICROSOFT <MSFT.O> CFO SEES REVENUE GROWTH INCREASING IN FY 2001
VS. FY 2000
SEATTLE, July 22 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp chief financial officer Greg
Maffei said Thursday he believed the company's revenue would grow faster
in fiscal 2001 than in the current fiscal year that began July 1.
Maffei made the surprise pronouncement in response to a question at the
company's annual financial analysts' meeting, to the apparent
consternation of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and other top executives
seated beside him on stage.
"Turn off his mike," Gates joked after Maffei's comment.
Microsoft President Steve Ballmer said he disagreed with Maffei's
projection, saying the law of large numbers made it increasingly
difficult for the company to sustain, much less increase, its growth
rate.
For the current year, Maffei suggested that revenue growth would be less
than 20 percent, compared with 29 percent in the year that just ended
and 28 percent in fiscal 1998.
Maffei also said the company continued to see a "grand opportunity" in
investing in cable television and telecommunications infrastructure
companies. But he said it was uncertain whether the company would make
additional investments as big as its $5 billion investment in AT&T Corp.
<T.N>.
Gates agreed that telecommunications were a good investment for
Microsoft, although he emphasised the company's investments were largely
passive, aimed at speeding the development of a world of high-speed
Internet connections.
"Nobody should think about that as redefining what Microsoft is," he
said.
Gates also said Microsoft was investing heavily in developing a new
"Web-centric platform," described as a simpler user interface that would
operate across a range of devices from hand-held telephones to
large-screen televisions.
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