“The Concentration of Foreign Based Investment Managers in Public Pensions in the United States. Gates foundation liquidating every share of Microsoft stock and impact on Linux development also discussed.

[...]

“At the same time Bill Gates has aggressively used his foundation to invest in defense and media related companies and thereby allow himself to leverage growth of the Windows operating system in new environments by being a major shareholder. One prominent example is the foundations investment in the Mexican media conglomerate Televisa. Via this investment and subsequent mergers Microsoft now indirectly controls the radio and television broadcasts in Spanish to more than 75 percent of all Latinos in the United States.

“If foundations like the Gates foundations receive tax-exempt treatment for security sales, they should be required to be fully disclosed. Only then will the free market system work. Linux users in particular should be pressing for such disclosures because only then will the playing field be level. Thinking that a more superior product will prevail in such an environment is simply naive.”

http://www.billparish.com/20040223persforeigngatesfoundation.html

Related to this:

Microfraud?

“THE ALLEGATIONS WERE shocking: For years, Microsoft has systematically distorted its profit figures in an effort to consistently beat Wall Street expectations and keep its stock price steadily rising. The false reports would violate SEC regulations, and amount to outright fraud.

“More shocking was the source of the allegations: Microsoft’s chief of internal audits, Charlie Pancerzewski, who reported directly to the company’s chief financial officer.

“Most shocking of all was what happened to Pancerzewski when he reported the suspicious bookkeeping to his supervisors, Microsoft CFO Mike Brown and chief operating officer Bob Herbold, in the spring of 1995. Soon afterward, Pancerzewski—who for nearly five years had received stellar performance evaluations—received his first-ever unsatisfactory one, and was eventually forced to resign.

“Two months ago, Microsoft quietly settled a lawsuit containing these allegations, filed in 1997 by Pancerzewski under the Whistleblowers Protection Act. The auditor claimed he was wrongfully terminated after telling his supervisors that Microsoft might be breaking securities and tax laws. The lawsuit made its tortuous way through several rounds of pretrial motions until last fall, when US District Judge Carolyn Dimmick denied Microsoft’s final plea for summary judgment, finding credible evidence that Microsoft may have violated SEC rules, as Pancerzewski alleged. Shortly thereafter, Microsoft and Pancerzewski settled out of court. Terms of the agreement were sealed, but one source who claims familiarity with the case says that Microsoft paid Pancerzewski $4 million.”

http://web.archive.org/web/20070308032343rn_2/www.seattleweekly.com/1999-01-06/news/microfraud.php