Microsoft vulnerable to economic woes after all

1 October 2008 11:32 GMT / By Katie Scott

Just days ago, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's head honcho, spoke to journos of his confidence that the tech and telecoms industries would enjoy a "certain buoyancy" despite the worldwide economic woes.

He did admit, however, that companies are not immune, and has now revised this, painting a far gloomer picture of things to come.

"Financial issues are going to affect both business spending and consumer spending, and particularly ... spending by the financial services industry", Ballmer told reporters in Oslo.

"We have a lot of business with the corporate sector as well as with the consumer sector and whatever happens economically will certainly effect itself on Microsoft", he added to Reuters.

"I think one has to anticipate that no company is immune to these issues."

"There are parts of our every business which are probably safe in the sense that it's not like our business would go to zero."

"On the other hand, when businesses have less money - they can borrow less money, they can spend less money - that can't be good. When consumers feel the economic pinch, house prices come down. That can't be good", Ballmer concluded.

He also added his confidence that the US Congress is going to be able to stabilise the current financial situation as will the European Central Bank.

Full tags

Biz, Microsoft, Steve Ballmer