Microsoft's Finances

Much of Microsoft's power - particularly the kind used in bluffing - flows from an unwritten assumption that it is a huge, vastly-profitable company, with almost limitless resources. The limitless resources bit will certainly change if it acquires Yahoo, since it has admitted that it will need to borrow something like $20 billion to finance that transaction. But there is increasing evidence that even without that gargantuan meal to pay for, Microsoft's financials are not as rosy as they seem.

One of the most assiduous followers of this angle is Roy Schestowitz. The only problem has been that his posts on the subject have been running for so long that there is something of a rat's nest of links to follow on on his site if you want to see the big picture.

Happily, he has just put together a consolidated piece that links to all the main pieces of the puzzle:

Here is a summary of about half of our posts which cover this area. To make them digestible (readable without having to follow the link), a summary of references (external) and key points are provided for each.

Worth keeping an eye on.