Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Banks on Getting Close to Government Officials

Piggy bank and notes



Summary: Microsoft is sniffing a lot around banks and bailout these days; shareholders angry over new scandal

ASIDE from the latest Washington DC PR stunts from Microsoft, there is a lot of interesting news which shows Microsoft getting closer and closer to the banking community. We wrote about Microsoft and M-Com just a few days ago.



Microsoft's relationship with Citibank is a subject that we covered a year ago when there was obvious Microsoft bias from the bank. Well, guess what? Citigroup, the parent of this bank, wants to compete with a financial news site right now. Conflict of interests? Just pretend it ain't so. But look at Citibank's partner for this venture. It's Microsoft.

Citigroup has formed a venture with Microsoft Corp to compete with Mint.com, the personal-finance website that Intuit Inc agreed to buy last week for $170 million (Dh624 million), people familiar with the matter said.

[...]

After last year's $45 billion bailout, Pandit may have to justify the cost of each project, said Thomas Noyes, who until 2007 headed Citigroup's international Internet and mobile-banking businesses.

[...]

Microsoft runs MSN Money, a website that displays stock quotes, offers tools for tracking bank accounts and publishes articles and columns on investments, personal budgeting and credit repair.


This is ridiculous. While not descending to the corruption that led to this whole "bailout" thing (colossal public looting), worth noting here is that it's ethically wrong for a bank to own, control or even collaborate with news sites that cover its activity.

Remember MSNBC [1, 2]? Remember the Chinese president meeting Bill Gates on a rare visit, as though this is his highest priority (coming before a meeting with the US president)? Watch what the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan has planned for his own visit to the United States. The following came up some days ago:

Prime Minister Igor Chudinov is visiting USA, governmental press service reports.

During the visit I. Chudinov will take part in a work the 64th session of UN General Assembly and Climate Change Summit.I. Chudinov will meet with leadership of the State Department, World Bank, IMF, representatives of Microsoft corporation.


Watch this carefully. He meets the government, a large bank, another international bank, and then... Microsoft. Anyone else? No.

He met Microsoft before [1, 2], after his nation had been knocked offline by Windows botnets.

Here again in the news is Microsoft and the Bank of New York cooperating on the management of bailout money (i.e. looting allocations). We saw the accompanying press release last week and here is the Federal Computer Weekly Web site (no relation to the government, never kind the gross Microsoft bias) covering this:

Microsoft and Bank of New York Mellon announced earlier this month that they are working together to help state and local governments meet reporting requirements related to economic stimulus funding.


Why does Microsoft get to manage all this? How does the Microsoft-influenced government feel about it?

All these entanglements are getting problematic. Consider for instance Microsoft's newly-found influence at the FCC and watch this release from Microsoft.

A study commissioned by Microsoft Corp. estimates that the unlicensed "white spaces" spectrum coveted by the software giant and other technology companies could be worth more than $100 billion over the next 15 years.

[...]

The companies were met with stiff resistance from the telecommunications, media and audio technology industries, though the FCC ultimately approved the unlicensed use of the white spaces late last year.


Is Microsoft trying to lobby the FCC to give it a place on the table and greater access to taxpayers' money? Is that the purpose of Microsoft paying people to conduct a so-called 'study'? Microsoft does not create white papers for educational purposes; It is not in shareholders' interest.

Speaking of shareholders' interest, one shareholder is publicly blasting Microsoft regarding this incident.

If the say-on-pay had been in place, you have to wonder how many investors would vote to spend that kind of money on relocating one executive.


Jackson, who claims to have a "long position in MSFT," writes:

Microsoft's Distasteful Plans to Save Us from the Housing Crisis



[...]

This last disclosure came out late Friday in Microsoft's preliminary proxy.

Michelle studiously noticed that in that same filing, Microsoft disclosed that it may outdo the Fed and the Obama administration in saving the country from the current financial mess. Specifically, they are going to focus on the housing mess and try to stabilize the market one Bay Area executive mansion at a time.

[...]

The reason for this was that Elop apparently couldn't sell it. Therefore, using bizarre executive comp logic, he hired 3 independent appraisers to peg the value of his home and got Microsoft's shareholders to pay him that amount for the home. This was all to "induce" him to take the job of heading up Microsoft's Business Services Division in Redmond. I know it rains more in the winter in Seattle, but that's quite an "inducement." I guess the "war for talent" is brutal -- even in the biggest recession since the Great Depression.

[...]

If Elop couldn't sell his house in the Bay Area and he didn't want to carry the mortgage on it while moving to Seattle, that's his decision. As a shareholder, I'd say let's find some other executive who does want this exciting opportunity. Enough with the "that's what we had to do to get this talent" logic. There are many talented people that would have jumped through hoops for this job.

It's too bad Elop and Kevin Johnson couldn't have coordinated their plans to switch jobs at Microsoft and Juniper Networks. They could have saved shareholders a lot of expense by just doing a house swap.


Going back to the FCC, recall what Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen is doing with wireless (we wrote about it last week). Allen is still up to mysterious things in his low-profile life:

Microsoft co-founder on secret jaunt to Israel - with 92-meter yacht



Microsoft founder and multi-billionaire Paul G. Allen landed Friday at Ben-Gurion Airport, the day after his 92-meter mega-yacht, Tatoosh, anchored at the Ashdod port - since no regular Israeli marina is large enough to hold the ship, the world's 26th largest motor yacht. He took a helicopter from the airport to his yacht.

[...]

As to what Allen is doing in Israel - he is considered extremely secretive and has banned journalists from his yacht and covering his visit.


How polite. Secrecy sometimes indicates something illegal/unethical is being done, not necessarily a crime.

"Behind every great fortune there is a crime."

--Honor de Balzac

Recent Techrights' Posts

12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
This New Determination on a Case Echoes the Modus Operandi of Microsoft's Serial Strangler vs Techrights (Its Online Decision/Judgment Says Truth and Public Interest Defend the Publisher)
Noel Anthony Clarke hopefully has enough money left to pay his victims, which include the publishers
 
Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Was Right About "Sideloading" in 1996
We now have computers that treat booting GNU/Linux like an act of "Sideloading"
Panama: Windows Down From 97% "Market Share" to Less Than 30%
In 2009, Windows was measured at 97.24% (compared to 62.32% right now or less than 30% if one also counts Android)
The UEFI 9/11 - Part I - Introduction to Impending Catastrophe (Microsoft Preventing People From Booting Non-Windows Systems)
eight-part series
Why Techrights is Slow Today (Bot Floods)
We don't know if those bots are connected to LLMs (we have not checked), but that is a possibility
Slopwatch: DDoS Slop, LinuxBSDos.com Spam, and Slopfarms in Google News, Including webpronews.com
Among the news we also found fakes, albeit not so much today
Links 26/08/2025: "Ballooning Debt" in France and "Transnational Repression in the UK"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/08/2025: Listening to Alcest and Google Doing Evil (Users Installing Software is "Sideloading" and Prohibited)
Links for the day
Links 26/08/2025: DNS Tampering and TikTok Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows "Market Share" Overestimated
Microsoft's income sources are shrinking
We Shall See...
My wife and I are hardly the first victims of Brett Wilson LLP
Going Offline
There was life before the Net
The Register MS Has Apparently Shut Down Its Office
It is basically a fake address on the face of it
There Are Also Expectations of IBM Layoffs Very Soon With "Narrative Control."
Some of them mention Red Hat and how IBM failed to achieve anything substantial with that acquisition
After at Least Two Rounds of Mass Layoffs in August Microsoft Said to Have "September Layoff Confirmed - Performance Based"
Those "M5 level meetings" sound plausible
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 25, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 25, 2025
Slopwatch: Slopfarms All Over Google News and Real News Sites Pushed Out of Visibility
Google News is dying (as a tool of value)
Gemini Links 25/08/2025: Numeric-only VM and Alhena 5.3.0
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: ‘Panama Playlists’ and Live Nation/Ticketmaster Suit Aims at Class Action
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/08/2025: Empathy Towards Autistic People and Old Gadgets
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Datacentres Versus Water Supplies and "The IPv6 Divide"
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Data Breaches, Politics, and Financial Strain
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Distros Ought to Replace Firefox (and Firefox ESR) With Something Like LibreWolf
Perhaps it's come to replace Firefox
Father of Julian Assange Said the US Government Was Trying to Bankrupt WikiLeaks, Now the Assange Family Promotes Fake Currencies
Using the name for bad purposes?
Bailing Out GAFAM, Giving Taxpayers' Money to Failing Companies, and Trying to Outlaw Lawsuits Against Them
What would the late Lincoln have said?
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) Inc. Lost 2 Million Dollars Last Year and Its Chief Took a Salary Increase of Almost $6,000
Another year or two like this... and the SFC will be bankrupt [...] Hallmark of mismanagement
The "New Techrights" Turns Two Very Soon
Accomplishing something each year is what's important, not merely "finishing" another year
Gulf Nations Leave Microsoft Behind
How much lower will Microsoft stoop in an effort to raise money from oil-rich lenders?
How to Combat IRC Trolls (in Our Experience)
Today I want to share my experience (or knowledge) of how to deal with IRC trolls
The Register MS Needs to Stop Participating in the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype, But It Gets Paid to Participate in This Hype
the publisher (The Register MS) wants to have it both ways
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Living With Your Parents, Zürich Zoo, and Macondo
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 24, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 24, 2025