14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella has recently travelled to South Korea to meet with local officials and discuss business opportunities in the country, but his words have quickly led to some pretty serious accusations published in local media.
Today, Business Korea writes that Microsoft “has been passive when it comes to employment and social contributions in Korea in spite of its monopolistic position in the country’s OS market,” pointing out that the world’s number one software manufacturer has only 480 employees in the country.
And despite the reduced workforce, Microsoft posted sales of $574 million (€451 million), with figures very likely to be even bigger thanks to royalties received from new PC sales.
The same source adds that Microsoft currently owns 97.7 percent of the OS market in South Korea, while worldwide, the company’s market share is at 89.41 percent. “This means that Microsoft is making more profits in Korea than outside of it,” it adds.
Microsoft forces the government to pay billions for licenses
The Redmond-based software giant is also accused of forcing the local government to pay billions of won for licensed software, using its leading position in the OS market as a way to demonstrate local officials that they have no other option than to purchase its products.
The Ministry of National Defense was forced to pay Microsoft a total of $200 million (€150 million) in May because it had previously used software without a genuine license.
At the same time, Microsoft is also planning to build its very own data center in the country, so Satya Nadella has recently met with Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jik to discuss the facility that’s going to be constructed in Busan City.
Again, Microsoft is accused of using its monopolistic position to obtain a better contract, although the terms of the deal are not yet public.
Microsoft is one of the smallest employers
At this point, Microsoft has only 480 employees in Korea, which makes it one of the smallest employers in the country when it comes to the IT industry.
The Korean subsidiary of Oracle currently has a workforce of over 1,000 people, while Microsoft has 480 employees and generates profits of around $574 million.
What’s more, the company has absolutely no big plans when it comes to new jobs for the data center that it plans to build in the country, so there’s no doubt that “Microsoft is a greedy company,” the Korean publication adds.
Redmond hasn’t yet commented on this, but we’ve contacted the company and will update the article when we get an answer.