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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 12:40 PM
WaterlooInvestor WaterlooInvestor is offline
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Canadian Business Thread

This thread is to discuss Canadian Business. I'll start things off with the latest headline:

RIM shares hits fresh high on China deal
Teams up with telecom giant Alcatel-Lucent to sell BlackBerrys in China
David George-Cosh, Financial Post
Published: Tuesday, October 23, 2007


Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie is silhouetted while speaking at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation Technology Showcase. RIM has partnered with telecom giant Alcatel-Lucent to sell BlackBerry wireless devices in China.

Investors yesterday sent Research in Motion Ltd.'s stock to a record high, at one point making it the most valuable company in the country during trading yesterday, after revealing it had partnered with telecom giant Alcatel-Lucent to sell BlackBerry wireless devices in China.

The manufacturer saw its stocks surge to $120.42 on the TSX, up 8.19% following the announcement that their 8700 BlackBerry model would be distributed in the booming Chinese market later this year, though no specific date was given for distribution. The stock jumped US$11.15, or 9.8%, to close at US$124.53 on the Nasdaq market.

Canaccord Adams senior technology analyst Peter Misek said RIM's developments in China are just the beginning of what could be a banner year for the Waterloo, Ont.-based company.

"This is going to be the biggest company in Canada," said Mr. Misek, who rates RIM as a "buy." "The company is a world beater and its technology is second-to-none. It's got an excellent execution engine and tremendous earnings growth."

"This is just step one for RIM in China. They're going to have additional partnerships, additional devices, additional services," he added.

China poses a huge opportunity for RIM. The country is relatively untapped in terms of mobile device penetration, with more than 10 million workers employed in Fortune 1000 companies and around 400 million middle-class residents who have found themselves flush with disposable income and with a culture that embraces new, exciting technology.

However, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky said that yesterday's market reaction was ahead of itself and was valuing RIM mostly on its long-term prospects rather than what he called, "modest traction in the short term." He rated the stock as an outperform.

Still, the announcement caused the street to drive RIM's market capitalization to a peak of $69.2-billion, surpassing Royal Bank of Canada as the country's most valuable company for much of the afternoon. RIM's shares are the biggest success story on the TSX, increasing 138% so far this year and rising more than twentyfold over the past five years.

Any concerns over RIM entering the risky Chinese market, says Mr. Misek, should be calmed with its decision to partner with Alcatel-Lucent, which has strong roots in China.

"Alcatel-Lucent has been ... in China a lot longer than RIM has, for about the past 25 years," he said. "You have to have senior politburo contacts in order to do business in China in the scale that they're looking at."

Entering a major market such as China won't be a cakewalk for RIM, says Rob Enderle, president of the Enderle Group, a market research firm in San Jose, Calif. He says RIM will face daunting competition in a market saturated with a number of different mobile options, including the RedBerry, a homegrown BlackBerry knockoff.

Mr. Misek doesn't believe the cheaper device, made by China Unicom, will pose any challenge for RIM's 8700 model once the device hits the Chinese market.

"[RIM] has a network operations centre that effectively manages IP address, traffic, data, everything. Then you have compression and spectral technologies that RIM employs and an operating system on its devices that is remarkably thin and efficient," said Mr. Misek.

"There's so much more intellectual property than just a brand, which is why they're beating companies like Palm, Microsoft and Apple."


From GlobeInvestor.com

RIM Stock Chart - October 23, 2007


S&P/TSX Composite Top 10 at the close October 23, 2007:
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  #2  
Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 2:43 PM
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This morning BNN reported that RIM is now the biggest company in Canada (by market cap).
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  #3  
Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 3:26 PM
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*cough* Nortel *cough*

Just kidding guys I'm sure that won't happen to you.

Seriously though RIM has an outrageous P/E multiple and is wildly overpriced by just about any metric IMO.

In regards to the talk about RIM being the largest company in Canada, perhaps it narrowly beats RBC in market cap, but take a look at real money:

RIM Q2 Revenue: $1.37B
Net Income: $287.7M

Royal Bank Q2 Revenue: $5.48B
Net Income: $1.395B
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 3:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottFromCalgary View Post
*cough* Nortel *cough*

Just kidding guys I'm sure that won't happen to you.

Seriously though RIM has an outrageous P/E multiple and is wildly overpriced by just about any metric IMO.

In regards to the talk about RIM being the largest company in Canada, perhaps it narrowly beats RBC in market cap, but take a look at real money:

RIM Q2 Revenue: $1.37B
Net Income: $287.7M

Royal Bank Q2 Revenue: $5.48B
Net Income: $1.395B
Now why don't you compare the relative growth rates?

The problem with your flawed argument regarding the P/E multiple is that RIM was wildly overpriced a few years ago too... since then the stock price has gone up by 500%... good call Scott.

The fact is... according to the market RIM is priced just right. P/E multiple by itself means very little... you also must consider the growth rate.
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 4:38 PM
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You misunderstand my argument. I'm not saying the market got it wrong or that RIM does not deserve a large P/E. Clearly they have high growth rates. All I'm saying is that the law of large numbers has to come into play at some point and growth will slow, just ask Microsoft. At that point the P/E will drop and unless RIM has earnings numbers somewhere in the ballpark of RBC then their market cap will be lower. Yes RIM will diversify into other products and blah, blah, blah growth will continue and the market will probably always give them a higher multiple than a bank. But they have a long way to go to reach RBC's earnings.

The problem with momentum growth stocks like RIM is that eventually something happens that knocks down these precariously perched stocks. They break down real fast and as Kevin O'Leary says - "grown men will weep".

The implication behind the posts from the Waterloo forumers is that RIM's success is KW's success, and that is somewhat true. I'm just saying that a company with a huge market cap and relatively low earnings doesn't have the same amount of positive economic effect on its community as a company with tons of real earnings and investment. For example, according to the statement of cash flows in their most recently reported quarter:

Cash Used in Investing Activities (net of short term investments)
RIM: $ 105,830,000
Suncor: $1,322,000,000
Encana: $1,189,000,000

Let the Calgary/KW pissing match comence.
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 5:10 PM
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Something that could have significantly more national relevance than who has the largest market cap - Nexen is making big ass profits in areas Encana deemed unprofitable at sub 50 dollar/barrel oil. If Eddie imposes to harsh a royalty increase, expect to hear more of this ....

Nexen profits as Buzzard lifts off
Globe and Mail Update
October 24, 2007 at 7:55 AM EDT
Oil and gas producer Nexen Inc.'s [NXY-T]third-quarter profit more than doubled from a year ago to $403-million or 75 cents a share, as production ramped up at its Buzzard oil field in the North Sea.
The profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 came in two cents ahead of analysts' consensus forecast and compared with $199-million or 37 cents a share a year earlier, the Calgary-based company said Wednesday. It noted that profit for the latest period included a $55-million after tax recovery on stock-based compensation.

Production climbed to the equivalent of 261,000 barrel s of oil a day from 203,000 a year earlier and net sales rose to nearly $1.45-billion from $997-million, Nexen said, while cash flow from operations rose to $868-million or $1.65 a share from $594-million or 77 cents.

The company attributed the growing production volumes to completed development projects in the North Sea, including Buzzard and Duart.
Nexen's third-quarter profit more than doubled as it ramped up production at its Buzzard gas play in the North Sea.

“A number of our development projects are now on stream, but these have taken us longer to complete than we expected,” Nexen chief executive officer Charlie Fischer said in a news release. “As we bring these development projects on stream, we are starting to achieve our target rates and our financial results are beginning to show the significant value of these projects.”

The soaring Canadian dollar took a toll on the Canadian company's numbers.
It said that although the average price of West Texas Intermediate crude rose to $75.38 a barrel from $70.48 a year ago, it was “unable to retain the full benefit of the price increase due to the weakening U.S. dollar.”
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 5:28 PM
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Out of curiousity, do you perchance work for RIM?
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 7:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottFromCalgary View Post
You misunderstand my argument. I'm not saying the market got it wrong or that RIM does not deserve a large P/E. Clearly they have high growth rates. All I'm saying is that the law of large numbers has to come into play at some point and growth will slow, just ask Microsoft. At that point the P/E will drop and unless RIM has earnings numbers somewhere in the ballpark of RBC then their market cap will be lower. Yes RIM will diversify into other products and blah, blah, blah growth will continue and the market will probably always give them a higher multiple than a bank. But they have a long way to go to reach RBC's earnings.
Tell that to Google, and tell that to Microsoft.... RIM has a market cap of $69 billion, Google's is $211 billion and Microsoft is at $292 billion... RIM has a long way to go before its market cap matches the big boys. Microsoft was worth much more back in 2000 than it is now. Until 2000, Microsoft's market cap. kept going up and up and others using the same argument that you are using were wrong year after year after year after year.... they were eventually right, but not until they lost out big time due to lost opportunity. Just like you can say day after day that it will rain in the desert, you will be right eventually... but not until your credibility is long gone.

Quote:
The problem with momentum growth stocks like RIM is that eventually something happens that knocks down these precariously perched stocks. They break down real fast and as Kevin O'Leary says - "grown men will weep".
Sure, that has been the record in most cases... but that misses the real point, which is the question of WHEN! As long as the fundamental story stays the same... hold onto the stock.

Quote:
The implication behind the posts from the Waterloo forumers is that RIM's success is KW's success, and that is somewhat true. I'm just saying that a company with a huge market cap and relatively low earnings doesn't have the same amount of positive economic effect on its community as a company with tons of real earnings and investment.
That's not true (at least not with Waterloo).... have you ever heard of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics?.... how about the Institute of Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo.... how about the Centre for International Governance Innovation and Igloo? What about The Balsillie School of International Affairs? All are due to the presence of RIM in Waterloo. Manulife is the 5th largest insurance company in the world (with big earnings)..... its Canadian headoffice is in Waterloo where they employ thousands. Manulife's economic effect on Waterloo is small relative to RIM's... The city of Waterloo is being transformed because of the success and presence of RIM, not Manulife.

I would estimate the combined net worth of RIM's top two executives (residents of Waterloo) at around $7 billion.... what's the net worth of Calgary's top two executives just out of curiousity?


Quote:
For example, according to the statement of cash flows in their most recently reported quarter:

Cash Used in Investing Activities (net of short term investments)
RIM: $ 105,830,000
Suncor: $1,322,000,000
Encana: $1,189,000,000
That doesn't necessarily mean a thing.... where is the money spent? New York or Toyko?

RIM's affect on Waterloo is MUCH larger that both Encana's and Suncor's affect (added together) on Calgary.... I mean just how many WORLD CLASS institutes have those companies started in Calgary?

Last edited by Waterlooson; Oct 24, 2007 at 8:29 PM.
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 8:15 PM
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well, it probably has more to do with the fact that Encana is somewhat of a "drop in the bucket" for Calgary. Waterloo is a much smaller city, so having one really successful business in town is going to make a much larger difference, proportionally
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 8:17 PM
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
Out of curiousity, do you perchance work for RIM?
I've always wondered the same thing.. Either that or the chamber of commerce. His posts always seem to have an "advertisement" feel to them, the way he always includes pictures of company logos, etc
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 8:37 PM
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Without going into the side debates in this thread, the one thing i will give RIM is that they seem to have world class management and that can go a long way....



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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 8:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Claeren View Post
Without going into the side debates in this thread, the one thing i will give RIM is that they seem to have world class management and that can go a long way....



Claeren.
I'm not all that impressed with Jim Balsillie.... he's made too may mistakes IMO.... but Mike Lazaridis is a real genius for sure.
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 8:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottFromCalgary View Post
".

The implication behind the posts from the Waterloo forumers is that RIM's success is KW's success, and that is somewhat true. I'm just saying that a company with a huge market cap and relatively low earnings doesn't have the same amount of positive economic effect on its community as a company with tons of real earnings and investment. For example, according to the statement of cash flows in their most recently reported quarter:

Cash Used in Investing Activities (net of short term investments)
RIM: $ 105,830,000
Suncor: $1,322,000,000
Encana: $1,189,000,000

Let the Calgary/KW pissing match comence.
You can make the same implication for Suncor and Encana. The largest share of their Canadian investors are likely in Ontario. - Seeing how the majority of high net worth Canadains live in Ontario. Some things are relative.

I will give WaterlooInvestor this, RIM is changing the way all Canadian businesses will be viewed in the future. They are truely on the leading edge of technology in a way Nortel could never say it was.

BTW: Nortel still exist in Brampton and Ottawa ( they didn't disappear after their stockprice nosedived.)

Edit: Oh shit, I just forgot, Nortel sold their Brampton headquarters to Rogers a couple of years ago.
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 10:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Waterlooson View Post
I'm not all that impressed with Jim Balsillie.... he's made too may mistakes IMO.... but Mike Lazaridis is a real genius for sure.
Yeah, but that same aggressiveness is what makes it world class. The top guy(s) push and the rest of the executive team (when they are strong too) do everything they can to make it happen without over-extending themselves.

A weak and non-visionary top means the company plays it too safe, as is the case with many Canadian companies.

A weak secondary executive tier of 'yes-men' allows the top people to push too far, as is the case with many American companies that have been hollowed out this way.


Great companies have balance. I don't knwo for sure if that is RIM yet but i get that impression based on the moves they have been making.

I get the same impression from Richard Branson's Virgin Group, for example.




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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 10:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Claeren View Post
Yeah, but that same aggressiveness is what makes it world class. The top guy(s) push and the rest of the executive team (when they are strong too) do everything they can to make it happen without over-extending themselves.

A weak and non-visionary top means the company plays it too safe, as is the case with many Canadian companies.

A weak secondary executive tier of 'yes-men' allows the top people to push too far, as is the case with many American companies that have been hollowed out this way.


Great companies have balance. I don't knwo for sure if that is RIM yet but i get that impression based on the moves they have been making.

I get the same impression from Richard Branson's Virgin Group, for example.




Claeren.
RIM could have settled the NTP lawsuit for $25 million US (according to NTP).... but Balsillie was asleep at the wheel and ignored NTP's concerns until they sued.... the result was that RIM ended up paying out $612.5 million to them instead (plus millions in legal fees).... that's poor management IMO.

By the way, just where does that "vast metropolis" aka Winnipeg fit into the Canadian business scene?
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 10:56 PM
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Originally Posted by caltrane74 View Post
You can make the same implication for Suncor and Encana. The largest share of their Canadian investors are likely in Ontario. - Seeing how the majority of high net worth Canadains live in Ontario. Some things are relative.

Actually I was quoting Cash Used in Investing Activities, not dividends per share or share price appreciation. Suncor's investments are pretty much all in Alberta and Encana has most of their's here as well.

@Waterlooson: Yes I have heard of all of those facilities (only on this forum though - actually it seems like that's all I ever hear from the KW people), their is no doubt that RIM and its founders have been generous to Waterloo. Also, I really hope that RIM does become as large as Microsoft or Google some day, I just don't see it happening. Feel free to buy a whole swack of RIM stock, I just won't be joining you. I would consider having it as 1% of my portfolio at most.
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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 10:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Waterlooson View Post
RIM could have settled the NTP lawsuit for $25 million US (according to NTP).... but Balsillie was asleep at the wheel and ignored NTP's concerns until they sued.... the result was that RIM ended up paying out $612.5 million to them instead (plus millions in legal fees).... that's poor management IMO.
Ignored? Or he thought that NTP were leaches and that he truly felt that he was in the right?

Just because the courts ruled one way does not mean that RIM did not have a case or that what NTP's does is right.

And the lowest figure i heard for a settlement was $450M, do you have a source for $25M?


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Old Posted Oct 24, 2007, 11:22 PM
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Ignored? Or he thought that NTP were leaches and that he truly felt that he was in the right?

Just because the courts ruled one way does not mean that RIM did not have a case or that what NTP's does is right.

And the lowest figure i heard for a settlement was $450M, do you have a source for $25M?


Claeren.
Yes, Balsillie "ignored" NTP while feeling that he was right up to the bitter end.... trouble was, the judge disagreed with Balsillie.

After the case was settled, a NTP principal stated that RIM could have settled the case (while still in the early stages of the dispute) for around $25 million.... RIM let the matter go to court and lost... then NTP wanted way more. RIM challenged NTP's patents and had them declared invalid, but it was too late because the judge wasn't bound by the patent rulings.

"When he and business partner Donald Stout contacted RIM in 2000 about obtaining a license for the NTP technology, however, they didn't get a response....
Stout told The Washington Post last year that RIM has had to spend more in legal fees -- $25 million to $50 million -- than it would have cost to license the company's technology."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...030301957.html
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Old Posted Oct 25, 2007, 2:19 AM
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Originally Posted by Waterlooson View Post
Yes, Balsillie "ignored" NTP while feeling that he was right up to the bitter end.... trouble was, the judge disagreed with Balsillie.



"When he and business partner Donald Stout contacted RIM in 2000 about obtaining a license for the NTP technology, however, they didn't get a response....
Stout told The Washington Post last year that RIM has had to spend more in legal fees -- $25 million to $50 million -- than it would have cost to license the company's technology."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...030301957.html
I am thinking that if you were being held hostage by that type of company you would have resisted too. And 'licensing fees' are rarely a one time thing, it may have only been that much based on sales back then but i am thinking would have risen with handset sales or some such thing.

Just because an American judge sides with an American company over a patent that while legal was morally questionable does not mean Balsillie was wrong. It could mean the law was wrong, it could mean that there are companies out there that specialize in blackmailing major tech firms and sometimes those companies have to stand up for themselves even if they sometimes lose....

I don't think it means that much in the scheme of things and obviously a lot of shareholders agree with me.



Claeren.
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Old Posted Oct 25, 2007, 5:31 AM
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It may not be a Canadian company, but it's good business news for Metro Vancouver at least...

Quote:

The new home of microsoft in Canada
TECH SECTOR: 700 of the best jobs in the industry will soon be coming to Richmond


Gillian Shaw, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, October 06, 2007

A Canadian software development centre wasn't even a gleam in the corporate eye of the giant Microsoft six months ago.

Today, thanks to a cap on working visas for the U.S., British Columbia's technology sector has been delivered a substantial boost with 700 Microsoft workers slated to move into a new centre in Richmond in the coming year and plans to expand after that.

The Microsoft jobs are in computer software development, requiring the specialized skills of designers and programmers that are in high demand around the globe.

The decision to set up shop in Richmond came when Microsoft ran headlong into a visa shortage.

"There's a cap in the U.S. for all companies, not just Microsoft," said Sharif Khan, vice-president of human resources for Microsoft Canada. "The government cap was hit in the first day of the release of the H-1B visas for the year.

"There were double the number of applications than there were visas."

The H-1B non-immigrant visa category lets U.S. employers hire highly skilled temporary workers for three years, with a provision to extend that another three years. The H-1B visa category requires a post-secondary degree and specialized expertise.

Last spring, the application opening lasted only a couple of days before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had 133,000 applications for 65,000 openings. It stopped taking any more.

Microsoft was left wondering what to do with some great young talent it had recruited -- mostly university students who were studying in the States but were not Americans. Once they graduated, and their student visas expired, they'd have to go home taking their knowledge and talents with them.

"These people were in the pipeline to be hired for Microsoft and the cap issue was there so we had to look at an alternative solution," Khan said of the graduates who he described as 'top in their field.'

That's when Canada came in, laying out a welcome mat for international talent.

Microsoft could now hire the top help and move them to Canada -- it only needed a location. The Lower Mainland with its close proximity to corporate headquarters in Redmond, Wash., was a natural. Richmond, with an international airport, and a location two-and-a-half to three hours away from Redmond by car, won the sweepstakes.


Khan said it is taking only two weeks to get a working visa here. The new Microsoft employees are moving into the 6,700-square-metre development centre in Richmond as fast as the visas can be issued. There are 20 people in the new centre so far but soon they'll have lots of company.

"The visa officials have been so cooperative with us and they have really been very supportive in this whole process, basically expediting visas and stuff like that," said Khan. "We are getting people on board quickly.

"We are ready to ramp up; we expect another 50 next months and another 50 after that. We are working on two buildings and we could scale up from a few hundred to 700 hundred in the first 12 months."

Lois Reimer, spokesperson for Citizen and Immigration Canada, said while she can't comment specifically on the Microsoft visa applications, some software developing jobs are among the categories deemed to be suffering a skills shortage.

"If that's the case they would get work permits as long as they meet the requirements of entry into Canada," she said. "We don't have quotas."

Since 2002, B.C. has seen a 91- per-cent increase in foreign workers, compared to a 66-per-cent increase in the rest of Canada, said Reimer. In 2006, B.C. received 36,300 foreign workers, out of the 129,000 who came to Canada that year. For B.C. that was up from 26,500 in 2004.

"It is kind of an amazing opportunity for us to leverage," said Khan, who sees the U.S. visa cap as 'an interesting catalyst.' "If you think about it, six months ago we hadn't thought of doing a development centre in Vancouver.

"We were responding to all inquiries saying there were no plans to do so. It is all happening very quickly, it is amazing."

Amazing, too, for the folks at Richmond City Hall who were so thrilled their community was chosen that they hosted the incoming staff for their orientation day while the office renovation was still underway.

"Right from day one when Microsoft announced it was coming to the Lower Mainland we were aggressively going after them and telling them all the wonders of Richmond," said Ted Townsend, Richmond's senior manager of corporate communications. "There is the proximity to the airport, the border and to Redmond and also a lot of it was about the livability of the community and the fact we have a very healthy, active community here."

Along with the immediate jobs and economic impact, Microsoft's new centre located on Commerce Parkway not far from Sierra Wireless, adds to the critical mass of Richmond's tech sector.

"Those businesses create more business and foster more business," said Townsend. "We think it will not only foster new business creation in Richmond but also such a high-profile employer will give people another reason to take a closer look at Richmond and what we have to offer.

"It is something we were very excited about and we are pleased that they chose Richmond."

Microsoft's arrival has British Columbia's technology industry looking across the border for other potential visa-seeking employers.

"We have strategized as to what other companies we want to contact to make sure they are aware of the issue and how Microsoft has chosen to deal with it and to suggest they look at British Columbia as a destination," said Rob Cruickshank, president of the B.C. Technology Industries Association. "Of the big companies affected now, there has certainly been some strategizing done around targeting other large multinational tech companies -- Google, Yahoo and eBay all jump to mind."

eBay has already located here with a customer support centre in Burnaby.

The new Microsoft staff in Richmond will be part of virtual teams, working for bosses in Redmond or other global centres on projects in which they may collaborate with colleagues from all over the world.

"The people working there are developers, we are talking core development people," said Khan.

And they are discerning about their work surroundings.

"When they looked at the blueprints of the office, they put up a board and started evaluating how much light you get in different parts of the building," said Khan. "They are scientifically mapping out the areas of the office with the greatest degrees of light."

Along with its proximity to Redmond, Vancouver is an easy sell to potential employees as a place to live and work. Khan said the company has also advertised internally for positions at the new centre within Canada. Among the new people at the centre is a human resources specialist from Microsoft's Toronto office who is moving here for a new job.

Khan cites a study in which 82 per cent of Vancouverites said they would not move for a job of comparable pay, compared to 40 per cent of people in Toronto who would be prepared to move.

"I think as a company we need to get the best talent, we need to go to where they want to be, where they are and where they want to be," said Khan. "Where there is a great environment to live -- they are likely to be more creative and more productive at the end of the day."

The pioneering group at the new centre has already constructed a Microsoft sign out of Lego to mark their new quarters.

"There is an incredible amount of enthusiasm around the project," said Khan. "When people arrived, everything was pretty much ready -- computers, desks -- and all the screen savers had big Canadian flags on them.

"There is just a lot of pride around this."

The development centre in Richmond, Microsoft's first in Canada, joins others outside the Redmond headquarters, including ones located in North Carolina, Ireland, Denmark and Israel.

The company also has full research and development centres in the United Kingdom, India, China and the Silicon Valley. It's planning expansions in Boston, Mass., and Bellevue, Wash.

gshaw@png.canwest.com


© The Vancouver Sun 2007
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