Ballmer Threatens To Pull Out of the US 1142
theodp writes "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is threatening to move Microsoft employees offshore if Congress enacts President Obama's plans to curb tax avoidance by US corporations. 'It makes US jobs more expensive,' complained billionaire Ballmer. 'We're better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the US as opposed to keeping them inside the US.' According to 2006 reports, Microsoft transferred $16 billion in assets to secretive Dublin subsidiaries to shave billions off its US tax bill. 'Corporate tax is part of the overall advantage of doing business in Ireland,' acknowledged Ballmer in 2005. 'It would be disingenuous to say otherwise.'"
In other words (Score:5, Funny)
corporations corporations corporations corporations corporations corporations corporations corporations corporations...
this line added for postercomment compression filter
And I'm threatening.. (Score:5, Funny)
Ballmer threatens to pull out? (Score:5, Funny)
Too bad Ballmer's father didn't pull out.
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Oh come on Steve (Score:5, Funny)
Don't tease me like that unless you really mean it.
Shit (Score:3, Funny)
Move employees offshore (Score:5, Funny)
It's just like moving rack mounted servers offshore. Just box them, ship them, and install in the new offices.
Bonus Fact (Score:4, Funny)
It's my assumption that while making the threat he was sweating profusely.
Evil, evil Microsoft... (Score:1, Funny)
Looking for ways to make money for its greedy, greedy shareholders.
Re:Ballmer threatens to pull out? (Score:5, Funny)
Ugh, thank you. Now I have this image of a sweaty Steve Ballmer Sr. saying "...I...love...this..company...YEAH!...come on baby, give me your face"
Pull out, already (Score:5, Funny)
On the other hand, Steve himself is a good candidate for the title "America's Asshole". I'm all for anyone with financial clout standing up to Obama and congress, but the enemy of my enemy is not automatically my friend.
Re:AMERICAAAAAAAA (Score:3, Funny)
(face | fact | fall | farm | fear | fire | fish | flag | flat | fold | food | foot | fork | form | fowl | free | from | full) yeah!
Next time, just say 'fuck'.
Re:Sure, move out. (Score:5, Funny)
Perhaps if MS was under the jurisdiction of the EU, they'll do what the DoJ should have done and will break it up into several MiniSofts.
Those would be "picosofts".
Re:No Surprise (Score:3, Funny)
Greed.
Greed never changes.
The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth. Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory. Hitler shaped a battered Gemany into an economic superpower. But greed never changes. In the 21st century, nations desired and aquired rapidly diminishing resources. Only this time, the price was the USA, taxes and kickbacks.
Owed billions, China would invade Alaska, Microsoft would move to Ireland, and the European Union would go "LOL FREEDOM" and tax Microsoft into oblivion. The end of the internet occured pretty much as we had predicted. In 2011, the storm of international piracy had come again. In two brief hours Lars Ulrich was reduced to a whimpering shell of a man sucking cock for wooden nickels. A great cleansing, no one would bail anyone out of this ever again. Nudes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton interrupted every broadcast. Original content was no longer possible having reached a critical mass singularity of that damned cat.
Our nation was almost extinguished, the unemployed walking upstairs and shielding their eyes from the sunshine of a brand new world. Vlad farted. However, a few managed to survive the devistation, using GNU/Linux on thousands of underground rackmounted servers full of interracial futa doujin. When everyone shut the fuck up these vaults once again opened and their inhabitants emerged to begin their lives again. From the ashes of multinational corporations a new civilization would struggle to arise.
But the butthurt runs deep and Anonymous has not forgotten.
This is home. Your basement. And things are about to change.
Re:Ballmer threatens to pull out? (Score:2, Funny)
Only on Slashdot would this be modded +5 Insightful.
Only on Slashdot would this be modded +3 Informative.
Re:Sure, move out. (Score:2, Funny)
Far more sensible for MS to move to Mumbai for most of their operations and keep the Dublin setup as it is. Staffing is cheap in Mumbai and there is a fast-growing computer/IT industry there and to top it all off a government that is willing to bend over backwards - for a small fee.
Sure! Why not.. Then we can see the irony of this happening: Tech Support Irony [illwillpress.com]
Re:Bite the hand that feeds... (Score:5, Funny)
Better start packing then. This place [wikipedia.org] is a Republican wet dream come true. Minimal taxes, practically no government, and a free market economy! Check out their site [somali-gov.info] for tourists!
Re:Capitalist flight (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sure, move out. (Score:4, Funny)
Lets give em the ISS (Score:2, Funny)
Re:And I'm threatening.. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:And I'm threatening.. (Score:3, Funny)
I'm sorta on Linux...
No wait, it's just Kubuntu (a Swahili word that means "Kant grok Debian").
Guess I shouldn't say this...
It's childish and petty to spell MS with a $, but most fonts don't have a swastica.
Let's see, if Balmer leaves the USA, he could go to Ireland, which is still fighting against fully joining the EU. If Ireland's economy rallies faster than most and stays good, that could actually work, but if it doesn't, then MS's current EU problems are but a small foretaste of what's to come.
He could go to the orient, with their history of scrupulous respect for IP rights. MS could make nice-nice with some government that has previously winked at its citizens mass duplication of various MS products...
There's the middle east. MS could operate out of Iran...
Uhm, Sealand...
Err, a Lunar colony under control of a self aware computer...
Re:Capitalist flight (Score:1, Funny)
Oh noes! You didn't get to steal all the money you wanted? I'm gonna be crying for you...
Re:And I'm threatening.. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:And I'm threatening.. (Score:3, Funny)
The closest they come to Linux is typing it and occasionally putting in the Ubuntu LiveCD so they can play LinCity or Same and be able to say they use Linux.
Amen Brother! I only keep a Linux disk around for its games. If it weren't for them I'd dump Linux all together and stick with windows!