Microsoft Doubles Annual Dividend to 16 cents

[Midnight Son]

How does this incredible largesse compare to other Dow stocks?

Smaller Div:
Intel .02
Home Depot .07
American Express .10
Alcoa .15

Larger Div:
Everybody else.

Don't even ask about the S&P 500.

[Jakub]

Dell doesn't even have a dividend, but man, do I wish I'd invested when they went public. Something like a 50,000% return now and it was probably closer to 150,000% at peak.

[graller]

Article on the NY Times about this. Scary - 49 billion in cash. The company generated 16 billion in 2003. They invest more in R&D then all startup software companies combined. Gates owns 11% of all outstanding shares of MS - he gets 186 million for his 16 cents a share!!

Jesus....And people complained about Rockefeller and Standard Oil

[chet]

Jakub, you missed your second chance at Dell. During the crash it hit its 5 year low of ~$17 twice, I bought each time. It is trading at $33 today and steadily climbing. That and Sprint PCS were the only two smart moves I made, and I am finally past my year 2000 investment mark (regained all my losses).

Chet

[quatoria]

Article on the NY Times about this. Scary - 49 billion in cash. The company generated 16 billion in 2003. They invest more in R&D then all startup software companies combined. Gates owns 11% of all outstanding shares of MS - he gets 186 million for his 16 cents a share!!

Jesus....And people complained about Rockefeller and Standard Oil

There have been a couple interesting articles recently, discussing the HUGE war chest Microsoft maintains, and its reluctance to pay out dividends. Talking about, essentially, the "culture of paranoia" at Microsoft - the feeling, pervading the entire structure, that "things may be going well now, but the AX MIGHT FALL ANY DAY NOW." Viewing their actions in that perspective explains a lot of things.

[Dirt]

Sounds like Gates runs Microsoft the same way Bush runs the USA.

[Jason McCullough]

Enh, I haven't seen this "culture of paranoia." But what do I know, I'm a contractor.

Rockefeller made Gates look like a piker in relative terms; his wealth was worth about 1% of GDP. Gates only has around a sixth of that.

[Ben Sones]

Talking about, essentially, the "culture of paranoia" at Microsoft - the feeling, pervading the entire structure, that "things may be going well now, but the AX MIGHT FALL ANY DAY NOW." Viewing their actions in that perspective explains a lot of things.

That's a pretty canny attitude for a tech company to have, though. How many pervasive, market-leading technology companies have fallen over the past few decades because they got a little too comfortable in their market-leading position? That sort of thinking killed Digital, and it's all but killed Apple. IBM was laid low for a while, though they have rebounded some.

[Brian Koontz]

Talking about, essentially, the "culture of paranoia" at Microsoft - the feeling, pervading the entire structure, that "things may be going well now, but the AX MIGHT FALL ANY DAY NOW." Viewing their actions in that perspective explains a lot of things.

That's a pretty canny attitude for a tech company to have, though. How many pervasive, market-leading technology companies have fallen over the past few decades because they got a little too comfortable in their market-leading position? That sort of thinking killed Digital, and it's all but killed Apple. IBM was laid low for a while, though they have rebounded some.

Bear in mind that Gates wants to Conquer the World. So the 49 Billion in the bank he would call "A good start". He doesn't use the same parameters in his thinking that the rest of the CEO's do, who humbly simply want to be profitable and expand within limits. Gates has no limits other than perhaps World Domination.

Microsoft's paranoia is a tool for them to overcome their enemies, which are other computer companies, the American public, the American justice system, the Asian market, etc, etc. Everything exists only as an obstacle in the path of Microsoft's success.

[Woolen Horde]

I can't tell if Koontz's day job is the editor for North Korea's state-controlled media. "Microsoft and America: the Two Great Capitalist Satans!"

[Bullhajj]

Rockefeller made Gates look like a piker in relative terms; his wealth was worth about 1% of GDP. Gates only has around a sixth of that.

Depends how you define piker, I guess.

[Brian Koontz]

I can't tell if Koontz's day job is the editor for North Korea's state-controlled media. "Microsoft and America: the Two Great Capitalist Satans!"

Hey... I never said Microsoft ruling the world would necessarily be *bad*... frankly I don't know how Gates (or likely his successor(s) at that point) as dictator/tyrant would work out. I was just pointing out Gates's goal.

America I'm less unsure about, since I don't like American culture and don't like probably any global culture so American culture becoming worldwide would be very bad.

[Midnight Son]

You don't like American culture? No SOUP for you!

[bago]

Yeah, having 30k people in redmond with at least a third of them coding stuff every day, that IS a hell of a lot of R&D.

Now if I could just find a group that won't freak out about my eccentric behavior...

[Lizard_King]

Sounds like Gates runs Microsoft the same way Bush runs the USA.
I don't think there's any comparison on the material level. Perhaps you could draw some parallels in psychology, if you really lend credence to the "psycho Gates" school of thought, but that's about it. I *wish* Bush had more in common.

EDIT My apologies, for some reason I thought I was in the P & R forum (since Microsoft talk inevitably involves some of both).