Microsoft (MSFT)

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[edit] Strong article, but I would like to hear some more about the company's i...

Suggestion by Dseg10 on 2008-01-19 00:12:16

Strong article, but I would like to hear some more about the company's investments and acquisitions including Facebook and Fast Search & Transfer. The latter acquisition, a $1B acquisition of a Norwegian enterprise search company is meant to spearhead their services capability in the mobile space. The Facebook investment is noteworthy because this prevented Google from stealing the ad serving deal that they signed last year. Additionally, it will be interesting to see how the loss of Bruce Jaffe, their top dealmaker, affects their acquisition capabilities.

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[edit] What is the impact of Microsoft's investment in facebook.com?

Suggestion by Timchao on 2007-10-24 14:04:45

What is the impact of Microsoft's investment in facebook.com?

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I see this as a defensive measure on MSFT's part. The fact that they didn't let GOOG get this investment is probably their biggest win. The company is a cash cow and has $23.4B in cash and short term investments on the balance sheets (as of June 2007). The company has bought back shares, distributed the biggest cash dividend in U.S. corporate history in 2004, etc... Spending $240M (1% of their cash and equivalents) is probably not a terrible investment for the company--though the valuation does seem awfully high. They paid 100x revenues or around 300x earnings assuming 30% net income margin for Facebook. --76.14.72.94 10:03, October 25, 2007 (PDT)