back to article Microsoft ditches Comcast shares

Microsoft recently sold its 7.26 per cent stake in Comcast, in what is being seen as another burst of financial housekeeping ahead of tomorrow’s second quarter earnings report. A US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, dated 16 January, disclosed that Microsoft no longer holds any Class A shares in the Philadelphia-based …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cost cutting...

    or just getting rid of shares before a collapse of confidence in the company?

  2. Daniel

    They're not cutting costs they're offsetting losses

    Comcast is one of the best-placed cable operators in the US. It's stock hasn't 'tumbled': it HAS fallen by 15 percent, but that's far less than most of it's competitors.

    Microsoft sold these shares simply to cover their own losses - notably in online, Xbox and entertainment - and also in order to raise funds for the failed bid for Yahoo! Microsoft sacrificed a very valuable asset, and this decision (made at the height of the financial folly of last year) is simply another reflection of the inept management currently residing in redmond. 9 billion, they have, now - partly based on market value, which can change, of course. Remember when they had 45 billion? Around about 30-40 billion has bled out of that company, over just the last few years: now THAT's a story.

  3. calagan

    Net neutrality issues?

    Maybe it has to do with this:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/fcc_letter_comcast_voip_traffic_management/

    In any case, the fiddling Comcast has recently been doing with their customers' bandwidth could turn a lot of them away (it would turn me away if I was one of their customers).

  4. AndyC
    Stop

    @Daniel...

    Read that last part again... you know, where it says MS has $9 Billion IN CASH...

    Reading again, MS has made roughly $2.2 Billion over 11-12 years or so just on this one investment, maybe even more depending on when they actually sold the shares. Not a bad investment by all accounts

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Halo

    Daniel.....

    Once again you show your ignorance. If you look at the 2008 annual report, MS has $73BN of assets. And HED made a profit last year. I suggest you spend a little time learning how to read a company report before you make your next post.

    The Comcast stock was bought at $1BN and sold at somewhere between $2BN and $3.4BN. That is a profit of somewhere between $1BN and $2.4BN..........

    Anyhow, you get today’s clueless spanner award. Well done.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Halo

    @Daniel

    > Remember when they had 45 billion? Around about 30-40 billion has bled out of that company, over just the last few years: now THAT's a story

    Nope. They gave the cash to their shareholders:

    > The company will also pay a one-time special dividend of $3 per share, or $32 billion

    Source: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/jul04/07-20boardPR.mspx

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