Description: In a recent blog post, Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, brought some good news to the traditional news media. Smith’s frank statement – “But one thing is clear – the internet and social media have not been kind to the free press” – seems an apt summary for how the internet has strangled revenue sources of traditional media. Microsoft said it shares revenue with media outlets and it supports an Australian legislative effort to level the playing field between media companies and the tech giants like Facebook and Google.

Date:  February 12, 2021

Source:  ivestopedia.com

 Link: https://www.investopedia.com/microsoft-msft-believes-tech-giants-should-pay-for-news-5112432

Discussion points:

1) How do you get your news?

2) Do you live in what the article calls a “news desert?” Are these “deserts” a threat to democracy??

3) In Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making, we see an interesting problem P13.8B that deals with some other policy differences between Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and Microsoft. Answer part “b.” of the problem: that is, “Why do you think Microsoft has paid dividends while Google has not?”