Gates to Address Consumers

Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, said it will start running TV ads in which Chairman Bill Gates speaks to consumers in the wake of a federal judge’s ruling that it violated antitrust laws. The 30-second spots will air on a variety of prime-time and daytime TV shows for about a week and will “reinforce for PC users that Microsoft is going to continue building great software and innovating,� said Microsoft spokesman Greg Shaw. On Thursday, shares of Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft fell 38 cents to close at $86 on Nasdaq. Its shares have fallen 19% since it was announced last weekend that efforts to settle the case with the Justice Department and 19 states had failed.