What pissed me off is...
I don't own any MSFT but, as a trader, find the Ballmer comments to be totally reckless for an company officer and insider to make - especially by someone with his stature.
By trying to impress journalists with his equity analysis skills, he totally forgot what his primary responsibility is - fulfilling his fiduciary duty with the shareholders. This was not it, by a long shot. If you're a shareholder, there's enough ground here to threaten/follow with a complaint (see bottom) or suit. It's a mistake you don't expect a seasoned brass to make, You've gotta to wonder if there're other motivations in play here. Here're some possibilities..
1. The company is facing severe, growing competition from the SUNWs, RHATs, YHOOs, and startups of the internets. Many of MSFT's competitors rely on the stock price to finance their expansion & acquisitions. If the market were to drop 30% today, guess whose business strategy gets hurt more? Certainly not the one ahead in investor $$$ but behind the curve in innovation, managing change, and fair competition.
2. The antitrust suit won't break up the monopoly but has put a serious dent in its relationship & reputation with competitors, partners, regulators, and, importantly, current and potential employees. Top talents no longer consider it a cutting-edge place to work.
3. To retain and recruit employees, MSFT needs an inexpensive way to finance its massive ESOP (options purchase) plan. Guess where the stock price needs to go to
make this plan attractive to MSFT?
4. Another reason is just shear arrogrance. (Sounds familiar?) With Billions in MSFT paper profit, a comment like that will hurt the average investor's portfolio than Ballmer's or other MSFT insiders, who couldn't have timed their recent sellings any better. Thanks again, Steve.
(http://biz.yahoo.com/t/m/msft.html)
5. Also, there were massive buyings of MSFT long-dated puts last week by hedge funds - at least 20,000 contracts. Are fund managers that smart or they just know something we don't?
nasdr.com
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