Desperate times
Desperate times require desperate measures. At the end shareholders want their billions back. World is a frikking crazy place...
Microsoft delays Iowa data centre plans
Microsoft has halted construction in West Des Moines, Iowa where it recently purchased land to build a huge data centre. A sale sign with Microsoft’s name on it only went up five months ago, but come October the company announced plans to reel in its data centre spending by about $300m. The first victim of that decision is …
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Monday 26th January 2009 21:15 GMT Scott F. Gunelius
Shareholder Greed
While I can understand shareholders wanting their billions back and then some; I think the continuing expectation of double-digit returns should be better managed. We've had too many instances of companies cooking the books to meet shareholder expectations which usually fueled compensation packages for those same chefs, I mean executives. Just my 2 cents...
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Monday 26th January 2009 21:15 GMT Charles Manning
re Desperate times
These are definitely not desperate times for Microsoft. MS have a pile of money that can ride them through anything.
However, in a downturn Wall St expects some cost cutting and layoffs and if you don't they'll roast you at the next shareholders' meeting and punish your stock price. With Zune, Vista and a long string of cock-ups, Ballmer does not need extra fuel on the barbecue.
The downturn also gives them an opportunity to cut some of their flagging business units without getting egg on their faces. Instead of admitting they goofed, they can just blame the economic crisis.
Ballmer might be a monkey-boy, but he's not a fool. He's hiring up where it matters. These are ideal times to hire as downturns make staff available. Microsoft need to keep developing to have stuff to sell when the economy recovers.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
