If we own MSFT and they force MSFT to break up into 3 or 4 companies, what would that do to our stock? Will we get stock in the new companies?
There might still be some messages on that subject in the old thread here. Basically though: A radical breakup of the company is highly unlikely. If it did happen, then, yes, current shareholders would get shares in all the companies. (See for instance, the recent spin-off of Lucent from AT&T, and the prior divestiture of the Baby Bells.) If it did happen, history and precedent, and analysis of MS itself suggest that the parts would soon be worth far more than the whole (but some here disagree with that).
If.
But it ain't gonna happen. The remedies being talked about now range from licensing of Windows code (something MS would likely fight to the bitter end), to less drastic measures. Any of them is likely to result in a series of appeals, private-party lawsuits, injunctions and on. Any of that would likely continue to have the drip-drip small drain on revenues and greater drain on energies at the company.
And hey, the government has been doing this ever since Teddy and the GOP invented antitrust laws. They lose more of these cases than they win, but the wins have sure been valuable to the economy and to those who owned stock in the affected companies. Personally, I hope, but don't expect that MS management would see the wisdom of ending it quickly with a radical consent decree. |
