biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday February 4, 7:30 am Eastern Time
Microsoft says Asian crisis won't hit investments
BRUSSELS, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT - news) chairman Bill Gates said on Wednesday the financial crisis in Asia would not affect the company's investment strategy.
''What we do, the partnerships we build, those are designed for 10 years, 20 years or 30 years, and we'll be charging full speed ahead with that,'' Gates told a news conference.
Gates, who was visiting Brussels as part of a European tour, said sales had been affected by the currency troubles in some parts of Asia, but that growth had been strong in other regions such as Taiwan and China.
He said Microsoft had no plans to cut back staff even in the troubled countries. ''Everything we're doing is long-term,'' he said. ''We can afford a very high level of investment.''
In an interview published on Wednesday by French financial daily La Tribune, Gates said that Microsoft would feel the crisis in the short term since 30 percent of its sales were in Asia, but would not change its investment plans.
He noted in Brussels that sales of both personal computers and Microsoft software had been healthy in Europe, as in other parts of the world. ''We've seen really quite impressive growth in the last six months.'' |
