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Oil boom boosts Microsoft
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January 19, 2000: 6:56 a.m. ET
Rising crude price benefits software sales; Europe apes U.S. in 2Q
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LONDON (CNNfn) - The booming oil price proved a bonus to Microsoft in the quarter just ended, as Middle Eastern sales of software rocketed more than 40 percent.
"There was more money to spend" in the region, Michel Lacombe, president of Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in an interview with CNNfn.com Wednesday.
Microsoft's European operations followed the same trend as its U.S. activities in the quarter ended Dec. 31, according to the software giant's senior executive in the region.
Although business orders for new personal computers grew more slowly than in earlier quarters, the consumer and small-business end of the market continued to surge.
Concern about the possible impact of the millennium bug and the imminent launch of the Windows 2000 suite in February conspired to keep many large corporate buyers of out of the computer market in the three months to the end of December. However, Lacombe's region still managed to post a 22 percent increase in revenues.
Lacombe noted a change in mood in Europe, with businessmen no longer regarding information technology as a burdensome cost, but increasingly as a crucial tool for their firms.
"Businesses are very eager to embrace e-commerce and the Internet wave," said Lacombe, adding that, although a "clear" gap with the United States remains, the differential is closing.
Lacombe predicted another good year for the world's largest software company in 2000, pointing to the prospects for improving economic growth in Europe as a likely driver of IT investment.
Lacombe wouldn't comment directly on the bitter courtroom battle between Microsoft (MSFT) and U.S. antitrust regulators, but remarked:
"It's very ironic that anyone talks about breaking up Microsoft at a time when America Online (AOL) and Time Warner (TWX) create the world's biggest merger, a deal aimed directly at Microsoft."
Time Warner is the parent of CNNfn.com.
Lacombe also downplayed the impact of Bill Gates' decision to step down as chief executive in favor of Steve Ballmer, pointing out that Ballmer's elevation to the company's presidency 18 months ago paved the way for this latest step. 
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