pls read post again. i did not say 170, i said i would take 160 anyday...i was planning to take profits on these around 160.
still planning on exercising everything i bot after july 96 meltdown.
i have no idea how to value these companines. it's all news driven
dat to day. we can only focus on ernings.
----------------------------------------what do u think of this?
Tuesday January 12 4:16 PM ET
U.S. Government Winds Up Case Against Microsoft
By David Lawsky
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government wound up its antitrust case against software giant Microsoft
Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Tuesday, arguing the company used monopoly power to destroy competition
rather than charge maximum prices.
Microsoft was expected to open its defense Wednesday.
The government's final witness argued that Microsoft's price restraint has minimized harm to consumers, while the company
consolidated its power by killing potential competition in the cradle.
The Justice Department and 19 states allege that Microsoft holds a monopoly in the operating system for personal computers
that it has preserved and attempted to extend illegally.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor Franklin Fisher, in his fifth day of testimony, said that Microsoft
chose to protect its monopoly rather than charge maximum prices.
''Microsoft is taking its profits in ways that are not reflected in the price of the operating system,'' Fisher said.
But, he said that Microsoft's prices were not as low as they would be under competition. ''It's possible to have a firm charge a
price higher than if it had no monopoly power and still not charge the highest price it could,'' Fisher said.
Instead, Microsoft counts on profits from the price of complementary products, such as its Microsoft Office suite of programs,
and uses its power to protect its monopoly and place restrictions on computer makers, he said. Computer makers are the
primary customers for Microsoft's operating system.
For example, Microsoft lowered the price of its Web browser to nothing in order to make it impossible for a rival, Netscape
Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:NSCP - news), to make money from its own Web browser.
Fisher, who has access to secret Microsoft databases, said that the company charges roughly $50 a copy to personal computer
makers for Windows.
During a lunch break, Microsoft general counsel William Neukom said that, as expected, the company would seek dismissal of
the case when the government finished its presentation.
''The curtain is coming down on a feeble case,'' said Neukom.
Justice Department antitrust chief Joel Klein appeared before reporters during the break and expressed satisfaction with the
job by his colleagues and those representing the 19 states.
He said the government had made a ''compelling case'' and there was now ''an extraordinary mountain of evidence showing
this company did not compete on the merits. It used predation, exclusion and coercion to defeat any possible threat to its
operating system monopoly.''
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