Msft & Techs>
Top Financial News
Thu, 23 Sep 1999, 2:49pm EDT
Microsoft's Ballmer Says Tech Stocks, Including
Company's, Are Overvalued
By David Ward
Microsoft President Ballmer Says Tech Stocks Are Overvalued
Seattle, Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. President
Steve Ballmer said he thinks technology stocks are overvalued,
including the shares of his company, the world's largest software
maker.
''There's such an overvaluation of tech stocks it's
absurd,'' Ballmer said at a conference of the Society of American
Business Editors and Writers. ''And I'd put our company's stock
in that category.''
Ballmer said that a ''gold rush'' mentality had pushed up
technology stock prices beyond their value. ''In a way it's a bad
thing for the long-term health of the economy,'' he said.
''Anything that's false is bad.''
Ballmer said that the high stock valuations, which push up
the compensation of technology company executives who are often
paid in stock and options, made it harder for companies to hire
good people.
The media contributes to the problem by portraying the
technology industry in terms of a ''gold rush,'' he said.
''The story that gets written is, isn't it great to live in
California in 1849, I mean 1999,'' Ballmer said. |
