Word: antitrust
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...government reported that Justice is still not amused. Throughout last week, the feds continued to favor the most draconian of penalties for Microsoft: a breakup of the software giant. The AOL-Time Warner merger may have altered the landscape today, the reasoning goes, but the government's antitrust case is built around events that happened in 1994 and 1995. Microsoft's business practices back then--stifling competition and bullying clients when it had market-share dominance--are the issue, not the company's position in today's media world...
...only that, but because this was not a merger between two companies in the same field--cyberspace being something new under (or rather beyond) the sun--they foresaw no antitrust problems, even though the $165 billion takeover is the biggest in history. "This thing is instantly available everywhere...so it's my view that this is kind of a clean break with the past," said Levin. "I don't see a regulatory problem." He is undoubtedly right as a predictor of government (in)action. Which is to say the takeover will probably be the beneficiary of the Robert Bork-Chicago...
This is not a new idea. As the historian Richard Hofstadter wrote, when Congress debated the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, its leaders shared "an awareness of the economic foundations of politics. In this respect, the Sherman Act was simply another manifestation of an enduring American suspicion of concentrated power." For Senator John Sherman the antitrust law was an important means of "maintaining freedom." The concentrated power of trusts amounted to "a kingly prerogative," and he argued, "If we will not endure a king as a political power, we should not endure a king over the production, transportation and sale...
America's most famous CEO is no longer a CEO. With an antitrust case and a major shift in the market of his firm's core area of business looming, Bill Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft Thursday, handing the reins to long-time protégé and college buddy Steve Ballmer. Gates for his part will ratchet back to the role of chairman and "chief software architect." The move ends a 25-year stretch as Redmond's top dog, during which Microsoft became the world's most valuable firm and Gates its wealthiest individual. In that time...
...leave? Theories range from its being a ploy to improve the company's chances in antitrust court - maybe the feds will go easier if they see their nemesis fading into the background - to that he just wants to spend more time with the wife and kids. Gates says he simply wants to focus on developing software, because that's where he thinks the big bucks will be as the Internet moves beyond our PCs into everyday gadgets, from pens to coffee makers to car stereos. "At the end of the day you're thinking, thinking, thinking about how the different...