The Hallmark of a Dying Company Running Low on Money (But Still Trying to Hide That)
Microsoft should look into selling red markers
A few hours ago in IRC someone posted this "breaking news" that says "Microsoft approves new $60 billion share buyback program".
Legalised embezzlement basically!
"Siphoning money out of what's left of the company," as an associate explains the above. "Also hides under-performance and boosts executives' stock-based bonuses."
As a reminder, only weeks ago Microsoft started cooking the books some more in an effort - however shallow - to conceal a collapse in demand.
They mostly try to reclassify things (first as "cloud", then "AI") to pretend there is actual "growth" in "strategic" or "future" areas.
They are scamming their shareholders and defrauding them. This cannot last.
AdmFubar has meanwhile linked to this report, remarking "can you smell their blood?"
Aggressive Microsoft Office marketing using "Sunk Cost Fallacy" reaffirms a trend: the cash cows are dying.
As a reminder, only days ago Microsoft announced mass layoffs yet again (like every month this year), but don't worry, layoffs are growth. Microsoft keeps insisting - since February that layoffs are the same as growth.
Yesterday we wrote about "Open"AI losing about 5 billion dollars a year (the true cost of offering 'free' stuff). That's even worse than we thought and we need the same for LinkedIn, GitHub etc. Microsoft's accountants know, but they don't share all the pertinent numbers externally, we just need to guess based on the mass layoffs and office shutdowns (there have been plenty of both).
Regarding XBox, sales fell almost 50% in just 12 months and people have begun gossiping that XBox as a whole will get shut down. Even XBox insiders dread this outcome. Hours ago a reputable site published "Xbox's mixed strategy is confusing developers, layoffs are affecting morale" and an XBox fan site said: "Xbox seems to be chopping and changing its overall strategy quite a lot these days, with numerous multiplatform ports marking one of the biggest changes internally over at Team Green. While the almost-constant shifting is proving to be somewhat confusing for the fanbase, as it turns out, it might actually be puzzling Xbox employees as well."
The other article says: "Microsoft's unclear and mixed strategy is confusing its developers and employees, and mass layoffs affecting 2,500 people are cutting deep into morale."
Microsoft is in trouble; it's also very deep in debt. Buying back its own shares won't improve things, except for those looking to embezzle what's left.
Things are getting so out-of-hand that even Microsoft's very own MSN published many articles such as this one blasting Microsoft. They syndicate other sites and it's getting hard to hide how workers, customers and pundits truly feel. We might be seeing the last few years of the XBox franchise. █