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Ballmer tightens Microsoft belt

Time: 09:22 EST/14:22 GMT | News Source: the inquirer | Posted By: Brian Kvalheim

SOFTLY SPOKEN, shy and retiring Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent an email to staff yesterday to complain that the company is not as wealthy as everyone thinks. According to Mr Ballmer, stories have been getting out that he is sitting on a fathomless cash ocean of billions of dollars and does nothing more than swim in the mountains of loot. He wanted to tell staff that it is not true because Microsoft needed a lot of cash.

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#1 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at Wednesday, July 07, 2004 10:16:18 AM

Sounds crazy...right up to the point when you sign the "Front Side" of payroll checks and payables within a company. I don't know <exactly> about any others running companies, but I suspect they worry as I do, about all the people that depend upon their decisions - one had better be right, or a lot of people get hurt. While we operate one of the most generous small companies I know of, a lot of sacrifices are made to make sure people are taken care of and provided the tools and resources they need. I don't imagine it is any different for Microsoft - just the scale is different. The people always come first and sometimes that means having to carefully balance resources and how they are applied.

#2 By 9156 (192.55.140.2) at Wednesday, July 07, 2004 12:28:28 PM

Its probably like any other company, everyone just got a smaller annual raise then they wanted/expected to get so the company says there is not enough money, roll over to the new annual year and suddenly there is new money, all the way up until the time of raises at the end of the next fiscal year, when the company is out of money again.

#3 By 3339 (64.160.58.135) at Wednesday, July 07, 2004 05:23:39 PM

"Using some of Microsoft's $56 billion in cash to maintain worker benefits, Mr. Ballmer explained, is not an option. 'The cash is the shareholders' money,' he wrote, 'so we need to either invest in new opportunities or return it to them,'"

That's a baloney excuse, and anyone worth half a lick knows it. The whole company belongs to shareholders, moron. You have been chosen by the shareholders to lead the company, which means you can do just about anything you want with the money, moron. Everything you do, whether it's blowing millions having fat schlubs running around NYC in retarded butterfly suits plastering everything with stickers or paying for the cleanup after having fat schlubs running around NYC in retarded butterfly suits plastering everything with stickers, is playing with investors money.

Further, some, in fact --again--- everyone with a functioning brain, considers investing in your employees an investment in the company. What makes Ballmer think that having fat schlubs running around NYC in retarded butterfly suits plastering everything with stickers is more of a worthwhile investment than happy employees? Or rather, why doesn't Ballmer think happy employees are an investment.

#4 By 3465 (68.50.165.53) at Wednesday, July 07, 2004 08:26:51 PM

Ol' tubby has to lose that mid section before tightening that belt!

This post was edited by kirk26 on Thursday, July 08, 2004 at 06:13.

#5 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at Wednesday, July 07, 2004 11:31:32 PM

I agree with #4 in one huge way - investing in employees is central to growth. For example, we maintain a pool of money for our people to draw from when they need to pay for medicine - that way they never have to carry cash costs and the company is reimbursed when the insurance pays - kind of our own company funded HMO. We do this to cut employee healthcare costs to zero. I don't know what any other company does, but I do know that publicly traded companies have a great deal of requirements that private companies do not.
Anyone who has ever authored sections of a board-book knows what I mean...same is true of board calls and meetings....etc... I know well what it is like and it is a lot tougher than anyone can imagine. I was the CITO in a company with public equity, and it is about as inflexible as it gets - it is almost always about shareholder value - that drives almost all decisions. I've even had to defend officers in deposition opposite groundless shareholder lawsuites - seeking claims against D&O insurance policies...it isn't pretty! Mr. Balmer is dead on correct...that is shareholder equity...it is policed by the SEC and he'd be placed "under" the jail if he did his job any differently. I do assess that MS employees ought to be damned grateful that they have leaders with the courage to speak plainly about such issues. They all have the option to work for privately held companies where the restrictions do not exist to that extent and in some cases, receive more benefits and rewards.

This post was edited by lketchum on Wednesday, July 07, 2004 at 23:33.

#6 By 3339 (64.160.58.135) at Thursday, July 08, 2004 01:19:05 PM

"It seems that Microsoft is merely being conscientious when it is tightening its belt. "

Conscientious? Conscientious? Why don't they "trim" their many money-losing operations rather than "trimming" the benefits of employees? Expenses are growing faster than revenue at MSFT, not because of luxurious employee benefits --although I am sure they still are... it is happening because MSFT is throwing itself into markets that it is failing at.

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