Maybe it is just me, but I have to say that Microsoft (MSFT) is the most irrelevant mega cap company out there. At least General Electric (GE) moved markets and has some economic relevance. MSFT on the other hand, as we learned this week, is just a big old cash cow that is losing market share.
The company has managed to fiddle about in its old windows mentality while the likes of Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) are doing to MSFT what MSFT did to the likes of IBM (IBM), Unisys (UIS) and their contemporaries two decades ago.
MSFT has totally botched the Yahoo (YHOO) takeover. Why 30-plus analysts waste our time and their employers’ money on covering MSFT is beyond me.
My recommendation to the MSFT board is to boost the company’s dividend to an annual rate of 3 to 4% and consider splitting the company to three parts – software, internet and entertainment. Once that occurs and only then will the company attract my interest.
Disclosure: At the time of this entry Scott Rothbort, his family and or clients of LakeView Asset Management, LLC were long shares of AAPL and GOOG --- although positions can change at any time.
