SEATTLE, July 18 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is set
to post a 9 percent jump in fiscal fourth-quarter profit on
Thursday, putting the cap on its best financial year ever, but
investors are fidgety over flagging computer sales and a
gnawing feeling that the tech pioneer will never recapture old
growth rates.

The shares of the world’s largest software company have
risen 10 percent over the past month — outpacing the
tech-heavy Nasdaq — but still are perched in the mid-$20
range, a level they have circled since 1998, adjusted for
splits.

SEATTLE, June 28 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) made
its biggest move into the mobile, Internet-accessible world of
“cloud” computing on Tuesday, taking the wraps off a revamped
online version of its hugely profitable Office software suite.

The world’s largest software company is heaving its
two-decade old set of applications — including Outlook email,
Excel spreadsheets and SharePoint collaboration tools — into
an online format so that customers can use them on a variety of
devices from wherever they can get an Internet connection.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is making its biggest move into the mobile, Internet-accessible world of ‘cloud’ computing this week, as it takes the wraps off a revamped online version of its hugely profitable Office software suite.

The world’s largest software company is heaving its two-decade old set of applications — including Outlook email, Excel spreadsheets and SharePoint collaboration tools — into an online format so that customers can use them on a variety of devices from wherever they can get an Internet connection.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Oracle Corp has a habit of beating Wall Street expectations, but some investors fear billionaire Larry Ellison’s software and server juggernaut will find it hard to keep up its own pace when it reports earnings and sets new forecasts on Thursday.

The world’s No. 1 database software maker is facing wobbly economies across the world, especially in Europe, and might already have reaped the greatest gains from the purchase of Sun Microsystems 18 months ago.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) says it feels no pressure to rush a decision on whether to re-engine or redesign its best-selling 737 narrow-body, despite impressive orders for an upgraded version of the competing plane — the Airbus A320neo.

Customers will wait for the best, most-fuel efficient plane Boeing can make, and the company cannot risk promising a plane it cannot deliver, said Nicole Piasecki, vice president of business development and strategic information for Boeing Commercial Airplanes told reporters earlier this month.

SEATTLE, June 14 (Reuters) – Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is bracing
for what could be a years-long battle over its decision to put
a production line for the 787 Dreamliner in South Carolina and
not in Washington state, where its unionized work force has a
history of labor strikes.

The matter has become the fulcrum of a larger conflict
between supporters of labor union rights and those who believe
U.S. companies should have the freedom to build factories where
they want.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp’s board stood behind Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer on Thursday, defending its longtime leader after influential hedge fund manager David Einhorn touched off a debate by calling for his dismissal.

The fund manager, who made his name warning about Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s financial health before the investment bank’s collapse, accused Ballmer on Wednesday evening of being stuck in the past, launching the sharpest attack yet by a high-profile investor against the company’s leadership.

NEW YORK/SEATTLE (Reuters) – Influential hedge fund manager David Einhorn has called for Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to step down, saying the world’s largest software company’s leader is stuck in the past.

“His continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft’s stock,” Einhorn said in reference to Ballmer.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – International Business Machines edged past old rival Microsoft Corp in market value for the first time since April 1996, marking the latest twist in the fluctuating fortunes of two of the world’s most storied technology companies.

IBM ruled the computer industry for decades until it hired the tiny, unknown Microsoft to provide an operating system for its new range of personal computers in the early 1980s.