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Mario Monti Fines Microsoft 100 Million?
n3k5 writes "EU competition commissioner Mario Monti has been in the news a lot lately, following "[...] a preliminary decision that Microsoft is breaking European law by abusing its dominant position in the personal computers' market. However, [the Commission] needs to carry out a series of consultations before finalising its verdict, due by May 1." (Financial Times article) The latest articles all cite German magazine FOCUS, which reports in its current issue that, according to "informed" EU sources, the Commission is considering imposing a record fine of EUR 100,000,000 (USD 123,840,000) on Microsoft. "Amelia Torries, a spokeswoman for Monti, dismissed the report as 'pure and utter speculation.'" (Channel NewsAsia article)"
Actually, this is not true! From Microsoft's latest SEC filings, it has a $US 52 billion dollar reserve.. 100 million would be avout 0.2% of that...
MSFT has 10,805,000,000 outstanding shares. An increase of $0.009 will generate the $100M in shareholder value. If the stock price
"Ain't I a stinka..." - Bugs
Actually it would be a 10 dollar fine, which doesn't really hurt.
Yeah, its one big anti-American conspirecy
Gee, don't see many EU companies in that list do we? Oh wait yes we do!
Microsoft's Home Entertainment division threw $348 MILLION away in the last QUARTER for which numbers are available, due to their policy of trying to grab a hold of the console market by selling their console at such a massive loss that licensing fees don't begin to make up for it. Think about this. This is about $100 million PER MONTH.
If MS will cheerfully spend $100 million a month to *potentially* expand their monopoly into a new market-- basically gaining customers by largely paying for the customers' products for them-- how exactly is $100 million going to make a difference as a fine? Isn't the idea of antitrust remedy to do something to convince the company to not perform their anticompetitive actions again? $100 million isn't just something MS would happily pay to maintain their monopoly, it's LESS than they're ALREADY spending to maintain their monopoly.
If this does turn out to be more than just rumors, this isn't a penalty for monopolistic status and anticompetitive action; it's a tax, a "ok, go on as you have, but give us some money for the privilidge to do so", and a measly one at that.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
My fear is that MS will fight this decision tooth and nail, and that in the end the EU will take the easy way out, settling for just the cash. The EU will have their 'win'; MS can proceed with business as usual after ponying up some chump change.
I'd rather see MS keep their money but made tot comply with the other demands.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I just like to add that the magazine "FOCUS" does not have the best reputation about the correctness of the things they claim to know :-)
2003, while we're at it
Heck. 2004 as well. It's a short list right now but stay tuned
The EU could assess a maximum fine of 2.5 billion Euros if Microsoft is found to have engaged in anti-competitive behavior.
Without regard for what many believe to be MS's list of anti-competitive actions, the EU complaint centers on two issues and those issues alone determine the findings and penalty (if any):
Microsoft is accused by the EU of trying to squelch rival products to its Windows Media Player, such as RealPlayer and Apple QuickTime.
Microsoft has also been accused of trying to squeeze out other firms in the market for "low-end servers" -- computers that provide e-mail and other services to multiple users and might run rival open-source software.
Anything else, no matter how guilty MS is of doing so, isn't part of the complaint and is moot.
The remedy proposed by the EU will almost certainly contain other conditions besides monetary penalties. As in the US judgment against MS, it's these conditions which will probably impact MS's future business and income, not the fine.
It is also widely believed that Microsoft will almost certainly appeal any decision that doesn't vindicate the company; estimates vary but all generally agree a final decision and remedy is years away.
Daimler Chrysler - 71m Euros in 1991
Deutche Post - 24m Euros in 1991
Volkswagen - 91m Euros in 2000
But in any case, Microsoft is not the record - Roche was fined 462m Euros for anti-trust in 2001. Google for more...
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
100Me would be ~10% of 1B$
100Me would be ~1% of 10B$
Microsoft's cash reserves have been reported in the 40B$ ballpark, which is probably still conservative. This puts the fine in the ~0.25% of cash reserves ballpark.
"Oh, did someone slap my wrist? I hadn't noticed."
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
If you'll read even the summary that Slashdot has posted, the 100 million figure is just speculation. It is not official, and it is not confirmed in any way by officials.
So, hey, how about taking your own advice: save the holier-than-thou stuff for when we actually know know the actual number.
But if you really want to debate a number pulled out of some journalist's ass, bear in mind that Europe already _did_ do stuff against Microsoft, among which overturning their OEM EULA. Here there's no automatic "Microsoft Tax" on hardware sales.
What's left in this "plastic sabre rattling" hinges mostly on stuff like the inclusion of the Windows Media Player in Windows, and how much it's hurt RealNetworks. (Although Real isn't an European company.)
I.e., whatever fines will be imposed, will have to do with the size of the damage in this case, not with some "let's bankrupt Microsoft because they're obviously evil" crusade.
The other face of the coin that courts of law should strictly uphold the law, is that they're not supposed to win a popularity contest either. The moment you start handing sentences like "pay 100 billion euro" or "burn the witch at the stake" just because it's what makes the spectators cheer, is just as wrong.
And honestly, if you want to know what I think about RealOne, see yesterday's thread. RealNetworks went above and beyond the call of duty to alienate their own users. Much as I'm otherwise no Microsoft fan, in this case _I_ would pat them on the back instead of any fine.
But again, that's all just ranting and speculation. Until we hear an official number, this is all just a useless typing exercise.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
European companies are governed by a much stricter monopolies law that makes it illegal to have a monoplistic market share, even if it was obtained fairly. Plenty of EU companies have been broken up long before they became as big.
Compared to Enron, the Parmalat scandal is pretty small beer, the shareholders were cheated, but they were not allowed to do anything like the manipulation of the California energy market Enron did.
Berlusconi's media empire has been getting away with plenty of chicanery, but only because Burlusconi became Prime Minister and awarded himself immunity from prosecution. Even then, he is being investigated and is likely to be brough to trial. Compare that to the treatment of Bush over his proven-beyond-doubt insider trading at Harken.
OK the US is no more corrupt than Italy, but it is pretty bad when it sinks to that level.
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Someone please explain to me what's so funny in prostitution, racism and child abuse, that the above post deserves "funny" as opposed to "troll" ?
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
You appear to be posting under the naive assumption that the implementation of the Windows API matches the specification. :)
No, we call '100,000,000' one hundred million. We call '1,000,000,000' one billion.