there's a history of monopolists supporting weaker firms in order to create the illusion of competition. This shouldn't fool anyone who is well versed in anti-trust history and enforcement.
Bill Gates had enough faith in its effectiveness to do it with Apple (basically handing them free money by buying non-voting shares with a certain arrangement).
There was on-going litigation and cross license negotiations at the time Steve Jobs became CEO, after Apple's the purchase of NeXT. The $150 million investment in stock by Microsoft was part of the settlement.
An interesting factoid, but of course you don't think that Microsoft made that investment in their then-failing competitor because they expected a good return. Right?
