Canada woos Microsoft

British Columbia: A new home for Microsoft?

By David Willis in Seattle

As the US software giant Microsoft waits to hear whether an American judge will order its break-up, it has been revealed that the company is being encouraged to relocate its operations to neighbouring Canada.

The authorities in British Columbia have offered to do a deal with Microsoft.

They are promising favourable treatment which may include a loan to build a new headquarters if Microsoft agrees to move its operations 100 miles further north, to the other side of the Canadian border.

Microsoft currently has around 20,000 employees in Seattle. Transferring its headquarters could have a devastating effect on the economy of the north-west corner of the United States.

But it would also frustrate the American authorities' attempts to break the company up.

'Welcome asset'

The Canadians see Microsoft's current battle with the US government as an opportunity to attract one of the world's most valuable companies.

In a statement released to the BBC, the man in charge of attracting investment to British Columbia, Gordon Wilson, said Microsoft would be what he called "a welcome asset".

It is rumoured his officials may have engaged in secret discussions with Microsoft. But the company itself denies this, saying it is focusing on fighting any plans for a break-up through the courts.

The judge, hearing a long running anti-monopoly case against Microsoft, is expected to announced his conclusions within the next few weeks.

It would be unlike a company as far-sighted as Microsoft not to have considered all its options and, clearly, its ultimate option if the operating environment becomes too hostile in the United States, is to move overseas. In fact, that could turn out to be the company's trump card.