on Jul 11th, 2006The Graying Microsoft Workforce
If you leave your bike outside, chances are the rain will eventually cause it to rust. If you stay in a job long enough these days, the stress and politics will surely reduce your productivity. If you’re a monopoly like Microsoft, the notion of competition is merely a fly on the rear end of a horse — a quick flick of the tail makes it go away.
Don’t cry for Microsoft, despite those European fines.
The company appears to be entering a period of maturity, but its valuation suggests that many investors fear something worse: a corporate midlife crisis. The stock is near an eight-year floor and the price-earnings ratio has never been lower.
Age discrimination, admirers protest. Microsoft may have lost a step or two, but it is still quite spry, they say. Once investors shift their thinking and begin to view Microsoft as a blue chip, not a failing growth stock, they predict, it will be recognized as a bargain.
Microsoft Is Graying but Still Spry
By CONRAD De AENLLE
New York Times, July 8, 2006