Ballmer Lunches With Obama
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was in town Thursday for a lunch meeting with President Obama and other CEOs to discuss ways to get the economy back on track. "Microsoft has always believed that the technology sector plays an integral role in job creation and appreciates White House efforts to seek ways for both the private and public sectors to work together to restart the American economy," Fred Humphries, Microsoft's managing director of U.S. government affairs, said in a statement.
Ballmer appears to have made the most of his Washington visit. He also met with a group of about 15 House Republicans including Washington Rep. Dave Reichert, whose Seattle-area district includes many Microsoft employees. Reichert, a member of the House Ways and Means Trade subcommittee, said in an interview that Ballmer talked about the importance of free trade and for Congress to approve pending trade deals. In addition, Reichert said Ballmer discussed his concern with a White House proposal to reform rules that allow U.S. firms to deduct the costs of their overseas operations and defer paying taxes on those overseas profits until the revenue is brought back to the United States. Ballmer indicated that changes to this tax provision could cost lots of jobs, Reichert said.
Reichert said Ballmer also discussed the flap involving Google and China. After revealing last month that it was the victim of cyber attack originating from China, Google said it would stop censoring its search results for users in China. Ballmer indicated his firm is watching the issue but was not asked whether his firm would follow Google's lead, Reichert said. Ballmer did say that Microsoft is concerned about the protection of its intellectual property in China. Reichert noted that Ballmer said Microsoft could make 10 times the revenue as it does now if China would, at a minimum, follow the lead of another Asian country, Indonesia, in protecting intellectual property. China has been criticized for its lax protection of intellectual property.
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