Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 19, 1994                   TAG: 9407200067
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MICROSOFT STOCK RISES, EXECS SEE LITTLE CHANGE FROM ANTITRUST DEAL

And Microsoft Chief Executive Bill Gates, in his first extensive comments about the settlement, said it would not affect the company's revenue or pricing.

Microsoft stock rose $1.871/2 to $50.50 on the Nasdaq Stock Market as several analysts who assessed the settlement reiterated buy recommendations on the company's stock.

``The franchise remains intact,'' said David Readerman, technology analyst at Unterberg Harris, an investment bank in San Francisco.

``At the end of the day, Microsoft's systems and application business is still one entity,'' he said. ``Microsoft is not writing a check to the government and they're still receiving royalty checks.''

Faced with the lawsuits by the Justice Department and the antitrust arm of the European Community, Microsoft agreed to change the way it sells operating systems to PC makers. An operating system is a program that controls the basic functions of a computer, like opening files.

Gates denied the company had engaged in ``illegal monopolistic practices'' as described by the Justice Department when it announced the settlement Saturday.

``In no way does Microsoft believe that it's ever done anything that is at all inappropriate or illegal,'' Gates said during a teleconference with reporters and financial analysts.

``The Department of Justice chose, based on the signing of this consent decree, not to go forward with the lawsuit, which would have tested the question of whether their allegations had any truth or basis.''

The settlement was hammered out in meetings during the past month in Washington and Brussels.