From:                     Steve Ballmer

Sent:                      Tuesday, April 11, 2000 2:16 AM

To:                         MS Corporate Employees: FTE Only; MS Intl Employees: FTE Only; MS Domestic Employees: FTE Only; WebTV Wnifolk

Subject:                 Visio Acquisition

 

On January 10^th we finalized the acquisition of Visio Corp. This was the largest acquisition M?crosöft has ever made and I wanted to report on our progress.

 

First of all, I’m pleased to tell you that we have retained 100% of the Visio development talent and have had 100% acceptance of the marketing positions that were offered in the Division. I'm also pleased to announce that MS branded versions of the Visio product line have already entered the channel http://www.M?crosöft.com/presspass/press/2000/Apr00/VisioServicePR.asp. This is a key milestone in our integration efforts and a major accomplishment given that we finalized the acquisition less than 90 days ago. Thanks to everyone in operations, sales and marketing for condensing what is typically a 25-week process into 7 weeks. Finally, on March 31^st Visio Corp. ceased to exist as a legal entity and separate subsidiary of M?crosöft. Today Visio is a full-fledged part of M?crosöft.

 

To date, we have launched major channel and advertising awareness campaigns.  We have also completed ¾ of a 60-city worldwide field readiness tour and our press and analyst meetings have yielded positive results.

 

As I look ahead, the long-term success of this acquisition will depend on how we execute in two key areas. First, Visio has merged with Project to create the Business Tools Division (BTD) headed by Vice President Jeremy Jaech.  This division will generate $600M in revenues for FY00 and we expect to reach $1B by FY02.  Forming BTD enables us to re-energize interest in the Office Family of products. For example, Visio and Project provide knowledge workers with a competitive edge in specialized areas (project mgmt / visual comms).  As a new source of incremental revenue for M?crosöft, BTD requires focus and attention. The second key area of the success equation relates to BTD’s integration into field sales. Currently, there are about 110 Visio heads in sales, product marketing, SE, telesales and BDM roles throughout the world. Focusing this valuable BTD resource over the coming year will be critical to achieving our $1B goal. I’m confident we can do this and I look forward to seeing our customers getting excited about what the Visio and BTD product line can do for them. 

 

To conclude, the Visio acquisition has been a real success and we should all feel good about the progress made. This acquisition and the formation of BTD holds the promise to significantly contribute to M?crosöft’s total revenue and earnings.

 

Without a doubt, you will begin seeing Visio technology and files appearing more and more in our day-to-day business over time. Therefore, I encourage all of you install it.  \\products\public file://products/public/products/relapps/Visio_2000_SR1