If It Quacks Like a Ponzi Scheme...
THE above chart hopefully spells it out clearly enough. The original is here (no annotation).
While Microsoft's share in operating systems fell from 95% to just 28% we're meant to think the company is now worth almost 20 times more? Based on what? Failing Windows Mobile? Failing Azure (layoffs)? Failing Bing (also tons of layoffs)? XBox (existential crisis)?
If all that perceived "value" is based on a gigantic lie and even fraud, the bubble will have to "pop". Based on its latest financial report, Microsoft's debt grew faster than its income and we know interest on debt makes any kind of debt very unappealing right now. █
"Microsoft, the world’s most valuable company, declared a profit of $4.5 billion in 1998; when the cost of options awarded that year, plus the change in the value of outstanding options, is deducted, the firm made a loss of $18 billion, according to Smithers."