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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: taxman who wrote (33716)	11/10/1999 10:40:00 PM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

I don't think Microsoft wants to see a verdict. That would open them up to a huge number of civil suits with treble damages. Better to cut losses early. If they enter into a stipulation before the judge issues his decision, they get out without having to admit wrongdoing. Very important not only psychologically but also to stem further losses from individual suits. And there WILL be individual suits against a defendant with pockets this deep.

To: taxman who wrote (33716)	11/11/1999 3:17:00 PM
From: Hal Rubel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Innocent/Guilty RE: "You are premature--we haven't even had the verdict yet. Innocent until proven guilty." I believe that the expression is actually: "...innocent until proven guilty in a court of law." Officers of the court are restrained from characterizing a defendant as guilty until a verdict to that effect has been rendered. The rest of humanity can say anything it wants. Generally speaking, Microsoft looks guilty to most folks based what I hear in common conversation and in the polls. MSFT has lost the moral high ground needed to get out of this thing unscathed. I think that to say that share value will be totally unaffected in the long run is unrealistic. The company is now clearly vulnerable to operational penalties. Many potential individual & institutional shareholders are now likely to be waiting on the sidelines as the monumental import of it all begins to sink in. There is no longer such a thing as a conversation about Microsoft that does not at least touch upon impending uncertainties. Bottom line: If the changes threatened come to pass,MSFT will need to earn at least double its current earnings per share to maintain its current share price level. Until then, why run the risks of holding a half empty bag? Hal