Microsoft M&A rally peters out

1970s tv series 3com accounting ackman activists ads agriculture Ahmass L. Fakahany aig airbus airlines airports albert lord alcatel-lucent allergan alliance data alphabet soup amazon ambac americredit amerigroup ameritrade amex andrea jung angelo mozilo anheuser-busch ann taylor antitrust regulation aol apple armageddon armor assured guaranty at&t audible avon backdating bailout bailouts bain capital balance sheet fortress bald guys balsillie bank buyouts bank earnings bank of america bankers banking bankruptcy banks barnes & noble Barry Diller battered by mass defection bea bear hugs bear markets bear stearns bear stearns-jpmorgan beards beer belgium benazir bhutto berkshire Berkshire Hathaway bermuda Best Buy bid rigging big pharma bill ackman bill gross biogen biotech blackberry blackrock blackstone blockbuster boeing bofa Bond insurers bonuses books on tape botox british air broken buyouts broken lbos bubbles buffett builders bunge buyback buybacks buyouts cable calpers canadians capital capital one capital raising car sales cards carl icahn carly fiorina carlyle carlyle capital catastrophe caterpillar cautious attitude cbs cdos ceo change ceo changes ceo pay ceo pay givebacks ceo search ceo selling ceos cereal cfius chafing charity chemicals chevron children's place china chip stocks chipotle chips choicepoint cholesterol cibc ciena cifg cioffi Circuit City cisco citadel Citi clear channel clearwire cleveland clinton cnet coffee coke comcast comeback conflicts consumer consumer slowdown consumer spending corning corporate integrity agreements costco Countrywide countrywide-bofa credit crunch credit scoring credit suisse crocs currency dawn of the connected era deere defaults deflation dell delphi delta-northwest diets digital movies diller disappointed disclosure disney dividend dividend cuts dividends djia dollar dow chemical downgrade downgrades drug stores dubai dumbfounded dvds e*trade earnings earnings miss ebay ed lampert ed zander elan emc encysive energy enhanced cash execs executive pay executive shuffling exxon eyecare ezra dabah fair isaac falling stock fannie Fannie Mae fannie-freddie farm boom fda fear fed FedEx felix salmon fgic fidelity financial stocks finnish corporations firings first marblehead fitch flopping folgers food force protection ford foreclosures former water companies foster wheeler foxes and henhouses frankenfoods fred hassan freddie Freddie Mac free fall garmin gary dunton ge gemstar genentech general dynamics general electric genzyme getting grilled getty images glasnost gm going awol gold goldman goldman sachs good luck google governments greater disruption greenlining greenspan greg brown grinch growcession H&R Block h-p harbinger harley davidson harman harold swerg hedge funds heirs apparent herein hershey hmos holiday sales home depot home equity hot stocks housing housing bust hovnanian huge government statistics humana IAC iaci icahn inflation information transparency infrastructure ingersoll-rand insider selling insider trading intel intuitive surgical ipod ipos iraq ironing metaphors isis j.c. flowers j.p. morgan jack lord jack welch jamario moon jana janet tavakoli jaws references jeff matthews jefferies jim cramer jim rogers job cuts jobs report john chambers john malone jpmorgan kerkorian kitchen sinks kkr kodak lampert land sales late filings lawsuits layoffs lehman lehman brothers lenders level 3 libor light at the end of the tunnel limpflation lipitor liquidity infusions loan losses lowe's m&a macy macy's magic making sense marbles margin calls mark ernst market moves market share market swings Marmon Marsh & McLennan massive internal conspiracy mastercard mayhem mbia mcdonalds mcgraw-hill medco media media moguls meg whitman merck meredith whitney mergers merrill Merrill Lynch mf global mgi pharma mgic microsoft microsoft-yahoo middle east Mike Cherkasky military money markets monolines monsanto moody's morgan stanley mortgage defaults mortgage insurance mortgage mess mortgages mosaic motorola mozilo mudd muhtar kent muni bonds munis munster murdoch name changes national city navigation negative revenue negativity netflix networking neville isdell new york times newspapers next-generation biopharma companies Nike nokia nordstrom nortel northwest-delta novastar nutrisystem oil online brokers oracle outage overpaid ceos overseas growth p&g padmasree warrior panasonic patents paulson pcs peak oil penalties penney peter lynch petrodollars pfizer Philips pilots pleasure/pain pnc politics portfolio price cuts price fixing price war private equity profit warnings proprietary monopolies prosecutorial zeal proxy fights psychology questionable fees raising capital rankings rapid amortization ratings ratings agencies razr burn real estate recession reed elsevier regulators rejections Respironics restaurants restoration hardware restructuring retail retail sales retarded rumors return-of-capital stories revenue generating units richard breeden rim rimm risk management rite aid riverbed road maps robert rubin rugby rumors running out the clock ruth's chris s&p sallie mae sandbagging satellite radio savvy risk management schering-plough schlumberger schwab sears seismic shift seismic shifts selloff selloffs severance shorts Siemens significant distractions silver lake Sirius sirius-xm siv SIVs sizzle slowdown socgen social networking societe generale southwest sovereign wealth sovereign wealth funds spending more time with family spielberg spitzer splitup splitups springing liens sprint stagflation Starbucks starbucks experience state street stay tuned stock stocks subprime suntrust Super-SIV SWF symantec talbots tans target taxes tech tech selling telecom telemarketers tennessee mayors the french theme parks this just in thornburg tiffany time warner tips tivo toll brothers toyota trade trane treasury turnarounds tysabri ubs unanswered questions unbroken bucks Uncategorized unions united unitedhealth units of measurement unsolicited bids upgrade usbl user growth valero verizon video games videos vikram pandit visa vmware vultures vytorin wachovia waiting and seeing wal-mart walking away wall street wamu warburg pincus warren buffett waxy chocolate wellpoint wells fargo whirlpool white noise whitman wilbur ross william mcguire williams-sonoma wimax wireless wireless gear wonder stocks writedown writedown wagon writedowns writeoffs wsj online XM xm satellite Yahoo yahoo-microsoft yelling yikes zoe cruz