Patron:
There is an issue buried beneath the daily headlines and commentary on MSFT that will soon be surfacing and I invite all thread members to keep this one on their radar screens.
Some analysts, in endeavouring to prep the sheep for the inevitable, have been talking about MSFT as being perhaps worth more in two parts than it is worth as a single entity.
I don't think so, and for a very obscure reason that will become much less obscure as the cleaver is raised. What few seem to realize is that MSFT's remarkably murky financials will have to be cleaned up for this event. This will bring the messy "employee option scam", the put option legerdemain, etc., out into the open with a vengeance. If you are unaware of this sleazy activity, review some of the stuff I posted here a year ago, or better still, visit Bill Parish's web site as he is the brains behind the dig that unearthed this can of worms.
When the financials are finally cleansed of this sludge, investors will have a chance to gaze at a chicken's carcass sans feathers,.... and a scrawny chicken it is. For years, MSFT has managed to inflate its earnings and build its cash stash with very few analysts or investors being aware of the behind-the-scenes sleight-of-hand. The break-up will change this rather abruptly.
Incidentally, Bill has taken enormous heat for his efforts and in my opinion is extremely brave to maintain his attack on Microsoft's blatant accounting BS. I hope he can continue to take it until the break-up lifts some of the load from his shoulders.
Best, Earlie |
