Cash-Rich Microsoft Sells Its First Bonds

Here is a story that doesn't require a subscription, or a mainframe just to process WSJ's cr@ppy scripting: http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/11/technology/microsoft_corpora...

The CNN article says "As of the end of March, Microsoft reportedly had cash and short-term investments worth $25.3 billion." Funny what short memories these professional journalists have-- remember how the accepted figure used to be $60 billion? Don't you think that a discrepancy of that size should spark a bit of curiosity? Where did all that money go? Why is Microsoft seeking outside financing when they are sitting on a pile of cash the size of a small moon?

Well this little primate is always curious, and I found this article from 2008:

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/361743_software05.html "Microsoft has reduced its cash balance to $26.3 billion through large stock buybacks, dividends and acquisitions. The balance was more than $64 billion less than four years ago. "...Keeping too much cash on the balance sheet can raise eyebrows among investors, who often want companies to reinvest the cash in the business -- where it holds the promise of a greater financial return -- or to return the money to shareholders through dividends or stock buybacks."

Ok, so maybe it's no big deal, just good money management. But then I never trusted the $60 billion figure because it was thrown around as carelessly as other bogus figures, like "Linux is less than 1%" and "Linux netbooks have a 4x higher return rate".

But your forgetting that it's Microsoft, so things like profit and cash on hand are irrelevant. They've got a high market share, so none of this other stuff matters.

The only thing that Microsoft seems to be good at is marketing itself.

With this sale of bonds and all the layoffs that Microsoft has recently announced, I view this a sign that the ...... empire is weakening.

qcimushroom, that's what I was thinking.