Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)’s CEO Plans Visiting China Amid Antitrust Investigation

Ongoing anti-trust investigation into the world largest software company, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) looks to have reached fever pitch, prompting the visitation of CEO, Satya Nadella. Reuters said in a report that Nadella will visit China sometime in September as he tries to push for the lessening of investigations into the company’s operations.

It is a trip that will see Nadella meeting with some top ranked government officials especially members of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC). Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is among the many foreign companies that have faced the full force of China’s anti-Monopoly laws in the recent past. Critics have already argued that the laws are designed to target foreign companies.

A visit by Nadella would mark the second major tech executive who has visited the second largest economy in the world, with a view of trying to solicit authorities to go slow on crackdowns. QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)’s President, Derek Aberle, was the first high ranked executive to make a visit to China after the effects of anti-monopoly probes started to be felt far and wide.

Nadella’s predecessor, Steve Ballmer, also made a number of visits to China, even though his visits where rare, due to the fact that Microsoft’s products, mostly Windows, were pirated, considerably affecting the company’s revenue margins. During Ballmer tenure in 2011, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is reported to have collected more Windows and Office revenue from Netherlands compared to China.

Increased piracy of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Windows looks not to have caught the attention of SAIC as the agency only investigated the company in return, claiming it had broken anti-monopoly laws. SAIC had claimed that Windows and Office suite applications sales had broken the law with regards to compatibility and document authentication.

The anti-trust agency has already started another investigation claiming that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has not been transparent enough, with respect to information about Windows and Office sales. SAIC is also reportedly running a parallel investigation into Microsoft’s Web Browser and Media Player.

The latest round of investigation raises credibility issues about the agency, considering Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) had sorted out all anti-trust issues regarding Windows, ten years ago with the U.S and European antitrust agencies.

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