News Microsoft in $150m Gateway payout

Redmond just keeps handing out barrels of cash recently... The latest beneficiary being Gateway, who's been fighting an anti-trust suit against Billcrosoft since the early 90's. This from the Beeb:

Microsoft is to pay PC maker Gateway $150m (£79.4m) over four years to settle an anti-trust case.
Shares of both firms rose in New York, after they agreed to work together to develop and market Gateway products.

Microsoft will set aside more than $700m from first quarter earnings to cover costs arising from the case.

That includes $123m of payments to Gateway, $41m in payments to Burst.com, and $550m for a reserve fund to finance future anti-trust claims.

More here

As always when you talk about Redmond's finances, this is a drop in the ocean. But how many more large settlements are they going to have to absorb this year? It all adds up, and it can't be good for the balance sheet.