Filed at 5:26 p.m. ET

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) -- With Microsoft Corp.'s antitrust battle with the government largely resolved, shareholders are focusing their attention elsewhere -- on the software company's $40 billion hoard of cash.

At Microsoft's annual shareholders' meeting Tuesday, investors clamored for the company to pay dividends or offer some incentive to keep a stock that now trades at less than half its value of late 1999.

The stock rose 53 cents on the Nasdaq Stock Market to close Tuesday at $56.63 a share. That follows on strong gains after a federal judge on Friday approved most of a settlement between Microsoft, the U.S. Justice Department and nine states.

Peter Schroeder, a Seattle investor with 33,000 shares, garnered applause from the audience with a question about whether Microsoft would issue dividends.

Microsoft management ``is not doing very good with investment of this cash,'' he said. In the past two fiscal years, Microsoft has written down $9 billion in telecom and cable-related investment losses.

Chief financial officer John Connors said the board has no plans for dividends. He said the company invests heavily in research and development and still faces numerous lawsuits

``It would not be appropriate to commit to a long-term program like a dividend until that's cleared,'' he said.

Several investors congratulated chief executive Steve Ballmer and chairman Bill Gates on leading the company through the long-running antitrust proceedings.

Gates and Ballmer focused their comments on new products and initiatives, including its redesigned MSN Internet service, the Xbox and Xbox Live video-game console and game service, and planned spending of nearly $5 billion this year on research and development.

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