$ cat ./records/microsofts-coercive-per-processor-licensing-triggers-its-first-an-1994.txt
Microsoft's Coercive 'Per-Processor' Licensing Triggers Its First Antitrust Decree
[RECORD.TXT] · cat --full
The U.S. government's first antitrust action against Microsoft targeted a coercive licensing scheme. For years the company used 'per-processor' contracts that made PC makers pay Microsoft a royalty on every machine of a given type they sold — even ones that did not run a Microsoft operating system — effectively penalizing manufacturers for installing rival software. In July 1994 the Justice Department sued, and Microsoft signed a consent decree banning the practice. Reached while Bill Gates was CEO, it was an early official finding that Microsoft used its dominance to choke off competition.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/stories/1994/settle071794.htm
Free forever · No ads · Solo developer
If this was worth a read, help make the next entry possible.
Every entry in this archive was researched, verified, and written by one person — for free. No corporate funding. No ad revenue. Just a developer who believes verified history should be accessible to everyone. Your donation directly funds new entries.
Crypto accepted · No subscription required
← Previous
Gates Bets Early on the 'Internet in the Sky' With Teledesic — and Loses
Next →
Gates Buys Out a Hawaiian Island's Hotel Rooms and Helicopters to Shield His 1994 Wedding
[CROSS_REFERENCES] · grep --category='Business'
Related Accomplishments
2026
Gates Foundation Trust Sells Off the Last of Its Microsoft Stock
In the first quarter of 2026, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust sold its remaining Microsoft shares, fully exiting a position in the very company that created Gates's fortune — capping a long, deliberate diversification away from the stock. The endowment that funds Gates's philanthropy, managed separately from its grant-making through Cascade, is now anchored instead by Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, railroads, and heavy-equipment makers. The sale underscored how thoroughly Gates's giving had decoupled from Microsoft's day-to-day fortunes.
2026
Gates's Charitable Endowment Is Now Led by Berkshire, Not Microsoft
By 2026, the publicly disclosed stock portfolio of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust — the endowment that funds Gates's philanthropy — was led not by Microsoft but by Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, Canadian National Railway, Caterpillar, and Deere. Decades of diversification, plus Warren Buffett's stock gifts, left it concentrated in railroads, waste, heavy equipment, and Buffett's conglomerate, while Microsoft — the source of the original fortune — had largely been sold down. The unglamorous, value-oriented mix reflects the long stewardship of Gates's money manager, Michael Larson, through Cascade Investment.
[ARCHIVE_FUNDING] · INDEPENDENT · NO ADS
One developer. >300 verified entries. Zero ads. Forever free.
No sponsors, no paywall, no algorithm. If this archive has been useful to you, reader support is what keeps it running.