Microsoft Denies Reports of a Possible Move to Canada

Microsoft Corp. and Canadian officials Friday poured cold water on reports authorities in British Columbia were trying to lure the software behemoth north amid its antitrust battle with the U.S. government.

Microsoft, which has been in the Seattle area since the late 1970s and employs nearly 20,000 people in its sprawling corporate campus in Redmond, Wash., said it was staying put.

“There is no truth to the reports of any intent to move the company,” Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan said.

A report on the British Broadcasting Corp. Web site said that by moving its headquarters into Canada, Microsoft would frustrate attempts by U.S. antitrust officials to break up the company.

“Microsoft believes we will win this [antitrust] case in the court of appeals and we are very happy here in Seattle,” Cullinan said.

The report said British Columbia officials had offered to do a deal that could include a loan to build a new headquarters.

British Columbia Investment Minister Gordon Wilson, whose office was cited as the source of the offer, said the rumor that the province had offered an incentive deal began with a California newsletter on technology stocks. “I haven’t had any formal talks with anyone with Microsoft,” he said.

Other Canadian observers said such a move by the world’s biggest software firm was unlikely.

“I think it’s just a little bit of puffery coming out of California by people in the industry who think that Microsoft has been badly treated,” said Frank Came of the Vancouver Economic Development Commission.

Microsoft, founded in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1975, moved to Bellevue, Wash., in January 1979 and to its Redmond site in 1986.