Bill “Teflon” Gates dodged a monopoly spanking again yesterday and made another $1 billion on it.
Conflict reigned among 18 state attorneys general who were evenly split on whether to keep fighting to punish Gates for his Microsoft monopoly or let him off the hook in a Justice Department settlement.
The split means that Microsoft most likely will go about its business as usual, with more awareness, however, about stepping on competitors’ toes.
A lawyer representing the state attorneys general told U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that only 9 states would sign the settlement.
Court-appointed mediator Eric Green also told the judge that “several” other unnamed states could eventually sign on to the settlement after studying it further.
It means that Kollar-Kotelly will push the issue into next year with more hearings on whether the settlement deal is in the public interest. Opposing states will be able to argue for more sanctions to be imposed on Microsoft.
In any event, shareholders saw the legal stalemate as a victory. Shares of Microsoft has slipped early in the day but recovered to boost Microsoft by $1.51 to $64.78.
The rise added another $1 billion to Gates’ personal stake in Microsoft, valued at $42.9 billion.
Among states singing on with the Justice settlement negotiated by the Bush Administration were New York, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Maryland, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, North Carolina, and Kentucky.
The states opposed to the settlement in its current form include California, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa.
Kollar-Kotelly had earlier asked Microsoft to agree to further settlement negotiations during preparation for further hearings, but was rebuffed by the company.
Some of the states are still worried that the agreement does not do enough to stop Microsoft from retaliating against personal computer makers that promote non-Microsoft software and that it allows Microsoft to broadly define its Windows operating system so that it includes too many add-on software features.