Thread by @chrisxmunn

Microsoft recently acquired Activision for $68B.

But why?

Is their strategy an attempt to BUY the entire internet?

Let's dive in & see what they're up to👇

Some background

In 1998 the U.S Government sued Microsoft.

An anti-trust suit was brought against the tech giant as the government just thought they were too damn powerful.

The idea was that they could simply crush any competitors due to their sheer size.

The victim the broke the camels back: Netscape Navigator.

(Netscape and Microsoft Explorer (ME) both sucked btw)

But with Windows on 90% of PCs, they could almost force customers to use ME

If this sounds like what Facebook did with disappearing stories on Instagram

or what Twitter did to Clubhouse with Spaces...

Congrats...You're paying attention!

But eventually, the government decided to break up Microsoft into 2 companies.

It was a huge blow for them.

Mostly because it allowed the company to lose focus and competitors to rush in.

One company made a cool MP3 player while Microsoft made the Zune.

One company made a browser called Chrome while Microsoft made Bing.

Another company started an online bookstore.

These products thrived with Microsofts eye off the ball.

Microsoft learned a huge lesson here.

Winning a lawsuit isn't always winning.

Sometimes not fighting is winning.

"Do not get into a fight if you can possibly avoid it." - Teddy Roosevelt

That brings us to today.

Here's a list of the companies Microsoft has bought or tried to buy in the past few years:

Skype $8.5B
NOKIA $7.2B LOL
LinkedIn $26B
GitHub $7.5B
Nuance $19.7B
Discord $10B
Activision $68.7B

Microsoft is transforming who they are in plain sight.

And they are doing all this after Bill Gates.

Satya Nadella has been doing this at the helm.

Just take a look at his baby pic...he was built for this.

So is Microsoft repeating the same mistakes of the past?

I don't think so.

I think they're flipping the script on the competition that arose during their Anti-trust suit.

The talk of big tech is back and bigger than ever.

But this time there are 4 main companies in the crosshairs of the government.

Apple
Google
Amazon
Facebook

The spotlight has shined bright and congress has brought them all in for hearings.

And where is Microsoft in all this?

At the poker table.

Straight buying pots.

"When there's blood on the streets, buy real estate." - Fred G Sanford (maybe)

As there is fallout over Facebook for election misinformation,

Google over ad power,

Apple over pricing power,

Microsoft is buying (digital) real estate by the billions.

What can we learn from this story?

"Don't fu*k with the government" - J. Edgar Hoover (likely)

Obviously!

But seriously...there are many ppl on twitter building or scaling their biz and we can learn from this story.

3 significant takeaways:

1/Stick to your core competency.

This is easier said than done, but anything that takes away from providing the best experience/value for your customers is a distraction.

For Microsoft, the legal battle made them lose focus on what they did best.

2/ "Stay ready so you ain't gotta get ready"

Great quote from Diamond in "Players Club"

Microsoft was ready when the opportunity came for these investments.

Their competitors are fighting battles on several fronts.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is waging war on digital assets.

3/ "Do what's right." - My Dad

Do business that lets you sleep at night.

Google's mission used to be "Do No Evil."

But, by being evil in different ways, Microsofts competitors are all in limelight of the US & EU governments.

Just a note, I don't know if these transactions will lead to success.

Just highlighting what I am seeing out there.

I've done over $100M in M&A transactions in my career so nowhere near what MSFT is doing.

But enough to have an opinion.

How can you apply what Microsoft is doing to your startup or small business?

How can you apply it to your career?

TL;DR

Microsoft got sued in 1998.

They took their eye off the ball and their competitors caught up.

Now the tables are turned.

Their competitors are under government scrutiny.

And Microsoft is buying up the internet.

If you enjoyed anything here, it would be great if you could share with more of the Twitter community.

Just retweet the first tweet:

https://twitter.com/chrisxmunn/status/1488150601431060481?s=21

I'm Chris.

I send my community 2-3 threads a week similar to these.

Come along for the ride.

👉 @chrisxmunn 👈