Microsoft After the Mega-Merger
These are interesting times. Yesterday, following the
announcement by Time Warner and AOL of the new
mega-zaibatsu AOL Time Warner, the Nasdaq posted
its largest-ever point gain and the Dow Jones hit yet
another record high. But now that we have a $350
billion gorilla in the jungle, whither our old friend
Microsoft? Well, Bill Gates has been having an
interesting week of his own.
When AOL made its last major acquisition, Netscape,
Microsoft's lawyers breathed a little easier. With the
AOL-Netscape-Sun alliance around, Microsoft had
somebody it could legitimately point to as a
competitor, and that eased some of the antitrust
pressure on the company. AOL Time Warner has
arrived just in time to affect a possible settlement with
the Justice department, but Gates must be thinking, a
little competition was a good thing, but enough is
enough.
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