Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Says Trump’s New Tariffs Might Spark International Turmoil, Harm Customers As Satya Nadella-Led MSFT’s Inventory Drops 14% YTD – Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

On Friday, former Microsoft Corp. MSFT CEO Steve Ballmer expressed concern that President Donald Trump’s new tariffs could lead on to international turmoil and negatively affect customers, particularly as Microsoft’s inventory faces a 14.03% drop year-to-date.

What Occurred: In an interview with CNBC, Ballmer warned that the U.S. authorities’s escalating tariffs would have far-reaching results on the economic system, together with important challenges for customers and buyers.

“As a Microsoft shareholder, this sort of factor isn’t good,” he said, noting that the brand new tariffs on imported items—affecting over 100 nations—would seemingly create important disruption, notably in industries reliant on international commerce, like tech.

“I took simply sufficient economics in school — that tariffs are literally going to convey some turmoil,” Ballmer added.

Ballmer, who has been concerned with Microsoft since its early days, spoke alongside Microsoft co-founder Invoice Gates and present CEO Satya Nadella at a celebration marking the corporate’s fiftieth anniversary.

Ballmer, now the proprietor of the Los Angeles Clippers, referred to as himself Microsoft’s largest particular person shareholder. A regulatory submitting from 2014, the identical yr he bought the Clippers for $2 billion, revealed that he owned greater than 333 million Microsoft shares on the time.

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Why It Issues: Earlier this week, Microsoft reportedly halted the launch of some of its knowledge middle initiatives, each within the U.S. and internationally, regardless of committing $80 billion this fiscal yr to AI-driven knowledge middle infrastructure.

Beforehand, Jeremy Siegel, a finance professor emeritus at Wharton College, in contrast Trump’s tariff coverage to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which is usually blamed for exacerbating the Nice Melancholy.

Jim Cramer additionally criticized the tariffs as a “artifical catastrophe,” arguing they don’t seem to be reciprocal and will trigger important market hurt.

Conversely, JPMorgan analyst Thomas Kennedy sees tariffs as a possible catalyst for important long-term transformation. He means that the age of globalization is over.

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Trinh Nguyen, senior economist for rising Asia at Natixis, informed CNBC earlier that the U.S. tariff technique is primarily targeted on addressing commerce imbalances relatively than making certain parity in tariff or non-tariff measures.

She defined that this strategy poses a major problem for a lot of Asian nations, particularly these with decrease earnings ranges, because it calls for they buy extra American items than they export to the U.S., a goal that’s tough to realize within the quick time period.

Value Motion: Microsoft shares fell 3.56% on Friday, closing at $359.84. Over the previous 12 months, the inventory has declined by 15.44%, in keeping with knowledge from Benzinga Professional.

Benzinga Edge Inventory Rankings provides Microsoft (MSFT) a progress ranking of 64.59%. Curious the way it stacks up in opposition to different corporations? Click on right here to view the complete evaluation.

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Disclaimer: This content material was partially produced with the assistance of AI instruments and was reviewed and revealed by Benzinga editors.

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