12 July 2006: EU fines Microsoft for dragging its feet
The European Commission fined Microsoft about 280 million euros for failing to comply with its 2004 antitrust ruling, which required the company to share technical information with rivals. It was the first time the EU had fined a company for non-compliance. The amount was a rounding error for Microsoft, but the message was not: dominant companies in Europe would face regulators who were patient, persistent and very willing to escalate.
The lesson: Regulatory risk for dominant companies is slow, persistent and rarely goes away just by ignoring it.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in Microsoft at the start of 2007 → $16,000 today, vs $4,789 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 2007, the first year in our price data after the event. That is 16.0 times the money, and $11,211 more than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What Microsoft teaches: A great business bought at a silly price can still deliver a lost decade; Microsoft's profits grew for years while its 2000 valuation slowly deflated.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | $30.00 | $16,000 | $4,789 |
| 2008 | $35.00 | $13,714 | $4,626 |
| 2010 | $30.00 | $16,000 | $6,071 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought Microsoft? Every starting year and the full story →
More Microsoft history
- 30 January 2007: Windows Vista launches to consumers
- 13 March 1986: Microsoft goes public
- 4 April 1975: Microsoft is founded in Albuquerque
- 25 April 2019: Microsoft reaches a $1 trillion market value
- 27 June 2008: Bill Gates' last day as a full-time Microsoft employee
- 4 July 1996: Hotmail declares independence from your ISP
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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