Ed Bott's list of 10 stupid things 'experts' try to tell you about Microsoft" is definitely worth reading.
Why would Microsoft pay €5 billion for what apparently is a troubled mobile devices company? Perhaps there’s a method to this madness. Let’s look at three facts that most of the critics never seem to mention. First, Microsoft gets to pay for the deal with cash that’s trapped overseas, where it’s free of U.S. taxes. As the Wall Street Journal noted last fall, $69.6 billion out of a total of $77 billion cash on Microsoft’s books is held overseas in low-yielding securities. If the company brought it back to the U.S., it would be taxed at corporate rates. Not having to pay that tax makes the effective price of Nokia’s Devices and Enterprise division a mere €3.25 billion.
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