Microsoft wins more latitude with ruling
SeattlePI | at | by Mike
Microsoft could go on a shopping spree now that last week's antitrust ruling has eliminated a threat to its huge cash stash, one analyst said yesterday. The company also now has more latitude in its buying behavior, because the stringent conduct controls that nine non-settling states had sought are also out of the picture, said Scott McAdams, chief executive of McAdams Wright Ragen Inc.
The world's largest software company was sitting on $40.5 billion in cash and short-term investments at September's end. That's money that it might have had to use complying with U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's ruling in the 4-year-old antitrust action. But the judge issued a ruling Friday that embraced a more moderate settlement among Microsoft, the Justice Department and nine states.