Microsoft Breakup Shot Down

By Robert Davis
Nov 17 2010

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer faced shareholders yesterday in Seattle and fended off calls to break up the company.

Shareholders have said that they have grown tired of seeing the company’s stock sitting flat around $20 per share and believe that the company would grow and increase in value of split up into two separate entities.

Gates and Ballmer both said that this move would be wrong for Microsoft at this time and that the company is much stronger as a whole. But they are still facing sharp criticism for their own stock sell offs which some view as a sign that bad things are coming for Microsoft.

Ballmer had previously announced that he was selling off stock to further diversify his stock portfolio and to make changes to his yearend tax bill. Gates has also been selling off massive shares in Microsoft but has said it was to help his foundation.

Shareholders believe that the sell off is a tactic that is often employed by company leaders to increase investor demand. They will often sell off large chunks of stock to increase the per share price and thus increase interest in the stocks by private and public investors.

With other tech companies enjoying soaring stock prices, Microsoft shareholders are looking for some answers. But the recent tepid sales for new offerings, including Windows Phone 7, have done nothing to increase the price of the stocks.

However, Microsoft has enjoyed a massive hit with their new Kinect controller for the Xbox360.