SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — IBM Corp. spent $1.2 million on government lobbying in the first quarter, seeking to influence issues such as the effect of President Obama's health care legislation on IBM and its employees, tax loopholes, and the standard mix among technology companies of patent, international trade and defense spending issues.
The sum is nearly $600,000 less than IBM, the world's No. 1 provider of technology services, spent in the year-ago period. The lobbying, disclosed in a filing with Congress, underscores the global reach of IBM's business.
The Armonk, N.Y.-based company's workforce has been expanding rapidly in emerging markets while its U.S.-based workforce has shrunk. IBM's lobbying included international issues such as income tax arrangements with China, India, Brazil and Korea; trade issues with China concerning rare-earth minerals; and import/export issues surrounding certain sensitive products such as encryption technologies.
The company lobbied Congress, the Department of Commerce, the Department of State, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Security Council, among other agencies.
IBM's business is centered on selling services and software that make companies more efficient. IBM's technologies can help retailers, for instance, not only process and store their sales data (mainframe computers), but also to support and secure their corporate applications (services) and sift through the data to look for ways to target promotions more effectively (software). Rivals have spent billions buying services and software companies to compete.
IBM's earnings rose 10 percent to $2.9 billion in the first quarter as its revenue climbed 8 percent to $24.6 billion. The company turned 100 years old this year, and while there is speculation about whether CEO Sam Palmisano will step down soon as he approaches his 60th birthday — the time when IBM CEOs have typically retired — he has tried to tamp down such talk, insisting that he's sticking around for a while.
Lobbyists are required to disclose activities that could influence members of the executive and legislative branches, under a federal law enacted in 1995.
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