Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)

All Comments on MSFT

  • commenter
    bobbyjoe
    May 21 05:32 PM
    Microsoft's aQuantive Deal: An Act of Desperation [view article]
    Your 15-30 years estimate is based on AQNT's earnings as a standalone company. It is not going to be operated as a standalone company, so the 15-30 year estimate is entirely misleading.

    To an outsider it is hard to understand all of the benefits MSFT will gain from this acquisition. You'd have to know more about the various operating divisions at MSFT and their plans for integration.

    MSFT is betting that they can add value - that AQNT as part of MSFT will benefit both companies. You must also look at the opportunity cost. There is no doubt that MSFT paid some sort of a premium to prevent someone else from buying AQNT (and posing a threat to MSFT down the line). MSFT may have also determined that it would have cost them more than $6B to develop an in-house solution. Many factors are considered in the acquisition process.

    Just because MSFT values AQNT at an 80% premium to "the market" doesn't mean that they overpaid. AQNT may be worth $6B to Microsoft. If MSFT didn't acquire AQNT, they may have ended up foregoing $6B of income over the next 10 years (because without AQNT it could be argued that they would never effectively enter the market).

    Time will tell, of course, but to say MSFT "paid too much" only days after the acquisition and without complete understanding of MSFT's plans for AQNT is premature.     Reply
  • commenter
    Brian Croner
    May 21 04:40 AM
    My Website
    aQuantive Will Solve Some Of Microsoft's Web Woes [view article]
    Google shouldn't be all that hard to kick. It may be a challenge for Microsoft. Their problem is the inherent fraud with Adsense and Adwords. Advertisers want sales conversions to show their bosses. Bosses don't always want to hear how much more money was spent on advertising. They want to hear how much more of their own stuff they sold as a result. Reply
  • commenter
    Brian Croner
    May 21 04:37 AM
    My Website
    Online Ad Bubble: aQuantive Deal Makes No Financial Sense For Microsoft [view article]
    It disturbs me how the giants persist without actually developing anything. Who gives them the right to just come and trade a governed currency for some one else's hard work? Microsoft is not rightfully entitled to anything more than what they themselves can develop, just like anybody else. But still they depend on money solving their problems for them. Even an acquisition must be done right, as pointed out above.

    It's as if Microsoft isn't even a software company. They're just an illegal trust buying yet more things. Either inept or stupid, they can't connect that innovation drives the web market. They're competing with growing script kiddies who live, eat, and breathe code. Anything they buy, regardless of how many billions, can just be exceeded with a GNU GPL project. This $6 billion buy could go down the drain overnight.     Reply
  • commenter
    Tom B
    May 21 12:26 AM
    Online Ad Bubble: aQuantive Deal Makes No Financial Sense For Microsoft [view article]
    Web TV acquisition-- MSFT spent a half-billion (but dollars were worth more). result--no profit, no product.

    Spyglass acquisition-- lead to Internet Explorer. IE actually WAS a decent browser for about 2 years-- but it never made MSFT a dime.

    Bungie acquisition-- Halo is supposed to be a great game. The Xbox is supposed to be semi-ok-- but MSFT is bleeding money on the XBox platform; thus, again, their corporate stupidity shines through.

    Connectix acquisition-- gave then Virtual PC. A product now obsolete.

    Great Plains software acquisition-- gave them a relatively uninteresting accounting product.

    Yep, they have a pretty godawful record. Perhaps their worst acquistion was Steve Ballmer, and that occurred a long ways back.     Reply
  • commenter
    karpodiem
    May 20 05:08 PM
    My Website
    aQuantive Will Solve Some Of Microsoft's Web Woes [view article]
    I'm curious as to what approach MS will take with the acquisition. Given aQ's impressive numbers, I would suspect something along the lines of hands off, but I just don't know if this without out some finesse in the web-arena that MS has yet to manifest, won't be bulldozed by the GOOG juggernaut in the coming years. Reply
  • commenter
    echotoall
    May 20 04:34 PM
    My Website
    Online Ad Bubble: aQuantive Deal Makes No Financial Sense For Microsoft [view article]
    i do not think a general statement of the 'online ad business being in a bubble' is correct. (at least I do not think Google's valuation merits such a statement.) I think the bubble is concentrated to the niche players capable of being aquired.

    but the 2007 projected marketing spending is interesting, and maybe why google is trading at a discount.     Reply
  • commenter
    Everyday
    Finance
    May 20 04:10 PM
    My Website
    Online Ad Bubble: aQuantive Deal Makes No Financial Sense For Microsoft [view article]
    I could kick myself. I actually called this the Thursday of the deal and recommended buying July 40s for .40 each. Now they're worth 24 each. a 60 fold return on investment. I will post on the one that got away and why I didn't pull the trigger. This deal was highly telegraphed though, I should have known better. Anyway, more takeover targets listed at my site. Happy hunting!
    everydayfinance.blogsp...     Reply
  • commenter
    michael.lins
    k
    May 20 01:46 PM
    Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! Stock Picks and Comments, May 18 [view article]
    Vic:

    Read his latest book, then see if you feel the same way. He always says, "Do as I do, not as I say." In other words, do your own homework and if you agree with his conclusions, make your own decision. I think he would be the first to agree that his advice is not to a "tip" to be simply followed. That said, there are probably some folks that trade on his advice anyway. Thus, the Cramer effect.

    Michael     Reply
  • commenter
    Alan
    Williams
    May 20 11:52 AM
    Online Ad Bubble: aQuantive Deal Makes No Financial Sense For Microsoft [view article]
    Given Microsoft's track record of running acquisitions, big and small, into the ground and having the said acquisitions virtually disappearing in 3 or 4 years, chances of anything but minimal return on this $6 billion investment are very low. Reply
  • commenter
    wixeywaxy
    May 20 10:29 AM
    Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! Stock Picks and Comments, May 18 [view article]
    Seeking Alpha would do it's self a service to avoid foisting Jim Cramer's stock market's equivalent of the Rush Limbaugh conservative voice. His appeal is with those who are unlikely able to be evaluate it. More sober, perhaps more cynical, followers of the market are suspicious of anyone who proposes to offer instant advice to others on every company listed on the exchanges. This is risky even for those experts who are narrowly focused and quiently spend most of their time studying these companies, not presenting opinions ad nausea all day every day on a network that presents very much the same image. Eventually there will be a scandal shuting him down.
    Vic.     Reply
  • commenter
    Frank Li
    May 19 05:06 PM
    Did Microsoft Panic With This aQuantive Buy? [view article]
    It'll be really interesting to see what the value guys who own MSFT think of this. $6 bn of MSFT's cash on AQNT? Feels like desparation to me. Reply
  • commenter
    Frank Li
    May 19 05:05 PM
    Did Microsoft Panic With This aQuantive Buy? [view article]
    As a defensive move, it made sense, even if they didn't know it at the time, because browsers now have default search options for their search windows. And Firefox uses Google search as its default. Reply
  • commenter
    five whys
    May 18 07:01 PM
    My Website
    Amazon Moves to DRM-free Music; Subscription Sites Lose Big [view article]
    I cant get this - what does it take for RNWK, YHOO, NAPS to offer DRM free, subscription free music? literally nothing.. they already sell music on per track basis.. subscription is just one of the options.

    I agree AMZN entry it-self is a threatening to these guys but hey, its apple who has to lose.. no one else have any market share anyway!     Reply
  • commenter
    Tom B
    May 18 03:40 PM
    Did Microsoft Panic With This aQuantive Buy? [view article]
    I recall when they bought Spyglass. That led to Internet Explorer-- another disastrous product for MSFT. While it was pretty decent for a few years, it has been just about totally neglected for roughly a decade. And it has NEVER made MSFT a dime; who pays for web browsers? Reply
  • commenter
    Mr. Finance
    May 18 02:23 PM
    My Website
    Did Microsoft Panic With This aQuantive Buy? [view article]
    A latest post on the NewsVisual.com suggests that it might have paniced. Here is the excerpt from the post titled: "Microsoft Acquired aQuantive with Few Relationships"

    After mapping common board, investment, non-profit, education and executive connections between Microsoft and aQuantive using IntellectSpace's Knowledge Mapping tool, too few relationships showed up that bind these two companies.

    From Microsoft's side, Gregory Maffei who was its Treasurer sits on the board of Electronic Arts, where he shared a board seat with Linda J Srere -- a current board member of aQuantive. Furthermore, Charles Norski, Microsoft's current board member, also sits on Morgan Stanley's board, where it intersects with Frederic Harman, a former board and a significant shareholder of aQuantive. Lastly, David Marquardt, a board member of Microsoft, is also an investor in Atheros, a company that Price T Rowe has also an equity position, similar to aQuantive.

    What is not presented on this Knowledge Map may be more telling than what is. None of the relationships involve executive positions, implying that key executives of each company did not intersect paths before. This is important, because aQuantive has a marketing culture, while Microsoft has a technology DNA, and post-acquisition cultural rifts could be a concern. Furthermore, the board of Microsoft probably worked with its financial adviser without reaching out to the target directly, therefore it may not have as intimate of an understanding of aQuantive as when the leadership of both companies are personally connected through mutual relationships.

    To experience an interactive version of the Knowledge Map, following this URL using your Internet Explorer browser: fn.intellectspace.com/...     Reply
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