Microsoft's $40 billion bet - Apr. 12, 2002 "One of the key roles of corporate management is to wisely reinvest whatever money the business generates to fuel ever-increasing profits. And with $40 billion to deploy, Microsoft is now arguably as much an investment firm as a software maker. (In fact, its cash stake is larger than the combined assets of the 9 biggest venture-capital firms in the U.S., larger than all but four of the country's equity mutual funds.) Yet Microsoft's cash seems to be just sitting there. Why would Microsoft, the ultimate growth company, allow so much money to pile up?"