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Microsoft Wants You To Buy Bonds

Here's another first for Microsoft. Shortly after the company reported its first revenue shortfall, it's now issuing its first bond offering.

Microsoft people say that the company doesn't need the money. In other words, this isn't a desperation move. All Redmond is doing, the folks there say, is taking advantage of the company's good credit rating to offer a bond at a time that makes sense given market conditions.

We're willing to accept that statement, given that Microsoft still has big cash reserves and, despite some recent stumbles, is still a profitable company bringing in loads of revenue. So, there's no panic here for now, but this bond offering is worth monitoring nonetheless.

And it got us to thinking, for some reason, what a "Buy Microsoft Bonds" poster might look like. We at RCPU are fans of the old war bonds posters from World Wars I (see here and here) and II (see here and here). Sure, they were propaganda, but they were made for good causes and included some tremendously arresting designs.

We wanted to mock up a "Buy Microsoft Bonds" poster of our own, but we have few (OK, no) photo-editing skills. So we're hoping that some of you out there will play with the old war bonds posters a bit and come up with some "Buy Microsoft Bonds" propaganda. We'll post the best entries (if we get any) this week or next. Send them, as always, to [email protected]. And have fun!

Posted by Lee Pender on May 12, 2009


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