Word: antitrusters
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...pity about Microsoft's new antitrust problem is that it hasn't driven the stock much lower--only a lousy few points, about as noticeable as three words cut from Moby Dick. If you're like a lot of folks, Bill Gates' best seller caught your fancy years ago, but at 30 to 40 times earnings, the price always seemed high. So you waited, and still wait. The stock has had its dips. But they've been brief, and often came with nagging questions: Was its famous growth curve flattening? Was it too slow to the Internet? Would the feds...
...have answers. No. No. And to this latest, I'll venture, no again. Microsoft continues to find vast markets to mine, and has closed the gap considerably since falling asleep at the Internet wheel a few years back. How it closed that gap is what has antitrust officials atwitter, seeking to demonopolize the company. Their effort is not to be taken lightly. The Internet, which officials want to keep wide open for competition, is a treasure that merits their watchful eye. And while few are talking about busting up Microsoft--like John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil early this century...
Should you buy the stock today? Look at it this way. Since antitrust first surfaced as an issue for Microsoft in 1990, the stock has fallen 10% or more 21 times, according to researchers Birinyi Associates. The average dip was 17% and lasted slightly more than a month. The average recovery was 47% the ensuing four months. On average, an investor who bought at the worst moment (the day before one of those declines) got even in six months--and has shared in Microsoft's glory ever since. The stock has doubled three times in the past four years. Microsoft...
...antitrust suit against Microsoft shows anything, it's that nobody has a monopoly on analogies. Both sides in the complicated legal case filed last week have latched on to similes and metaphors to make their positions clear. But do they work? Maybe up to a point...
...METAPHOR] JOEL KLEIN, Justice Department antitrust chief: "This is like having someone with a monopoly in CD players forcing consumers to take its CDs in order to get the machine...