[swatcoder]

Yeah, and if that takes a $30B hit to settle past accounting issues, that’s still $30B no longer poised for an acquisition or on hand to settle some EU action next year.

Losing a quarter of your cash reserves for no gain isn’t going to ruin today’s business but it sure will frustrate existing strategies for the future.

[itsoktocry]

>that’s still $30B no longer poised for an acquisition

They accumulate that much cash because there are no acquisitions to be had in the current economic climate. I can't imagine a $30B+ company that Microsoft could acquire without massive regulatory scrutiny.

[sensanaty]

Good! Hopefully Microsoft burns through as much of their cash paying penalties as possible and dies as a result, as they should've a decade+ ago.

[quickthrower2]

You can acquire with shares though. They or they could raise 30Bn pretty easy.