Ashcroft Backed Microsoft Deal
Post | at | by Mike
U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft wanted to settle the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case to allow the government "to focus on other things," according to an e-mail from an Ashcroft family friend to a leading opponent of a proposed settlement between the firm and the Justice Department. The e-mail was sent to James Barksdale, the former head of Netscape Communications Corp., who was hoping that he and Scott McNealy, chief executive of Sun Microsystems Inc., could speak with Justice Department officials after hearing that a deal with Microsoft was imminent.