My IRA retirement account has Microsoft stock. My 401(k) might too.
And, quite frankly, I'm okay with this.
Why did it drop like that? Because Microsoft is refusing to cut more. Cutting more means layoffs. $2 billion worth of layoffs would be a LOT of people losing their jobs, and cutting too deep would hurt Microsoft in the long-run.
I've heard it said a few times that there are a lot of investors who don't care if a company has a real long term plan or not, just so long as a company is profitable this quarter. And that stocks jump on layoff announcements since the company will (in theory) be more profitable in the near future. I personally don't like that. I wonder how many bad decisions were made just to appease stockholders, or out of fear of stockholders.
So, here's to the long-term health of Microsoft. Here's hoping Bill Ozzie and company have a plan for the long-term. Here's hoping the stockholders let them.