How high will Microsoft fly? Message Board

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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly?

MSFT 477.74

-2.5%

Dec 3 3:59 PM EST

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To: DavesM who wrote (6822)	5/10/1998 8:30:00 PM
From: Hal Rubel	Read Replies (3) of 74651

The Situation Regarding Citizen Gates RE: "If J.D. Rockefeller, who probably did own the politicians, couldn't stop the "Trust Busters" what makes you think that Mr. Gates can? " A Point: Well put. It is all too true that the anti-trust laws will eventually prevail. Not only that, virtually none of what has been done to break up the trusts over the last 100 years has ever been un-done when the heat of the moment died down. The only thing that has worked has been sincere and honest negotiation with regulators before things become a mater of decision for the courts. Regulators will bend, the courts can not. A Comment: If one is going to make money in society, one is compelled to do it by the rules of society. Anti-trust considerations are clearly defined, established by precedent, and have been known to all responsible parties from Day-One. To pretend that Microsoft is a special case is to pretend ignorance of the law. Doing so is especially reckless because it leads to drastically enhanced penalties when reality is brought to bear. An Opinion: This is serious stuff. A serious investor must discipline himself to think like one. A good beginning would be to recognize that there are REAL anti-trust considerations involved here that can NOT be rationalized away by conveniently changing the point of view used to analyze the situation. Likely Resolution: Eventually, Microsoft will come to sincere terms with the situation. The sooner the better for Microsoft and its shareholders. End-runs past the courts of law to the courts of public opinion with specious arguments, brinksmanship, and notoriously defiant flagrance of the law by Gates' ego is especially dangerous to the investment interests of his fellow shareholders. The risk here is that the law may slam down extra hard on Gates-the-Man via Microsoft-the-Company in order to preserve its own injured dignity and to make its point with sufficient deterrent effect. What to Do: Concerned shareholders may consider diverting some of their polite letter writing energies away from the Department of Justice and redirect them toward Citizen Gates to help him and encourage him to make peace with society and the law. After all that's said and done, the reality is that Microsoft has a nice thing going here. Why blow it? HR

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