Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) announced on Thursday that it fired two employees, Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle, after they broke into the office of company President Brad Smith. The break-in followed a protest earlier in the week by seven current and former employees at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington campus. The group, which is part of an activist movement called No Azure for Apartheid, demanded that Microsoft stop supporting Israel (directly or indirectly) because of its alleged use of Microsoft’s software in Gaza.
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Microsoft said that the two employees violated company policies and its code of conduct by entering executive offices without authorization. The company noted that the protestors blocked access to Smith’s office, planted phones as listening devices, and refused to leave until police intervened. In a statement, Microsoft added that it is still investigating the matter and is fully cooperating with law enforcement. Meanwhile, the protest group confirmed the firings on Instagram and described itself as a collective of Microsoft workers calling for the company to cut ties with what they call “Israeli apartheid and genocide.”
The situation has drawn attention after The Guardian reported that Israel’s military used Microsoft’s Azure cloud to store intercepted Palestinian phone calls. This led Microsoft to begin a third-party investigation into how its technology is being used. Smith said that the company would “investigate and get to the truth.” Nevertheless, recent protests around Microsoft’s campus resulted in 20 arrests in one day, with most of the arrests involving non-employees.
Is MSFT Stock a Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 33 Buys and one Hold assigned in the last three months. In addition, the average MSFT price target of $624.08 per share implies 22.6% upside potential.
