GREGORY MAFFEI Chief Financial Officer, Microsoft Gregory B. Maffei almost walked away from a Microsoft Corp. job offer as director of business development and investments back in 1993. He thought the Redmond (Wash.) software company was already too big and that Microsoft's best days were behind it. Wrong. Since then, Microsoft sales have more than tripled, topping $11 billion, and in July, the 37-year-old New York City native became chief financial officer. Among his challenges: managing $10 billion in cash. Maffei came to Microsoft with experience in investment banking, venture capital, and, of all things, bankruptcy. In fact, his first CFO job was liquidating a bankrupt chain of hardware stores. Ironically, it was that experience, he says, that won him the job offer. But it's the acquisition skills Maffei honed at Citicorp Venture Capital Ltd. that are getting the most use these days. In the past two years, Microsoft has made approximately 60 deals worth more than $2.5 billion. This year alone, Maffei structured the $425 million purchase of WebTV, the $1 billion investment in Comcast Corp., and the $150 million equity infusion in Apple Computer Inc. ''We are on the hunt,'' Maffei says. The CFO is also releasing unusually detailed info on products, customers, and locations on the company's intranet. Many CFOs would be loath to share such info widely, but Maffei is not: ''We look at these systems as a way to make the business grow, not just to manage the books.'' By Seanna Browder in Seattle Return to main story

Updated Oct. 16, 1997 by bwwebmaster
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