Microsoft Posts First Quarterly Loss Ever

[ElNono]

"Microsoft's announcement of a late October release date for Windows 8 was eclipsed by its earnings report, in which the computer giant posted its first-ever quarterly loss since going public in 1986. The loss stems from Microsoft's continued struggles with the online services division."

[The Reckoning]

hmmmm.

better than how apple is going to fare

[baseline bum]

LOL fat Ballmer.

Oops! Five CEOs Who Should Have Already Been Fired
Adam Hartung, Contributor

#1 – Steve Ballmer, Microsoft. Without a doubt, Mr. Ballmer is the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today. Not only has he singlehandedly steered Microsoft out of some of the fastest growing and most lucrative tech markets (mobile music, handsets and tablets) but in the process he has sacrificed the growth and profits of not only his company but “ecosystem” companies such as Dell, Hewlett Packard and even Nokia. The reach of his bad leadership has extended far beyond Microsoft when it comes to destroying shareholder value – and jobs.

Microsoft peaked at $60/share in 2000, just as Mr. Ballmer took the reins. By 2002 it had fallen into the $20s, and has only rarely made it back to its current low $30s value. And no wonder, since execution of new rollouts were constantly delayed, and ended up with products so lacking in any enhanced value that they left customers scrambling to find ways to avoid upgrades. By Mr. Ballmer’s own admission Vista had over 200 man-years too much cost, and its launch, years late, met users avoiding upgrades. Windows 7 and Office 2010 did nothing to excite tech users, in corporations or at home, as Apple took the leadership position in personal technology.

So today Microsoft, after dumping Zune, dumping its tablet, dumping Windows CE and other mobile products, is still the same company Mr. Ballmer took control over a decade ago. Microsoft is PC company, nothing more, as demand for PCs shifts to mobile. Years late to market, he has bet the company on Windows 8 – as well as the future of Dell, HP, Nokia and others. An insane bet for any CEO – and one that would have been avoided entirely had the Microsoft Board replaced Mr. Ballmer years ago with a CEO that understands the fast pace of technology shifts and would have kept Microsoft current with market trends.

Although he’s #19 on Forbes list of billionaires, Mr. Ballmer should not be allowed to take such incredible risks with investor money and employee jobs. Best he be retired to enjoy his fortune rather than deprive investors and employees of building theirs

[Heath Ledger]

PC only company? Ever hear of Xbox? This article is a fail....

[CubanMustGo]

Only reason there was a "loss" was because they wrote off goodwill on a company they purchased years ago. It was all on paper. I call bull on the loss being accounted to the "online services division".

The Redmond, Wash.-based company reported a net loss of $492 million as its operating income was wiped out by a $6.2 billion writedown related to its acquisition of advertising company aQuantive in 2007.

Excluding that adjustment in the books, MS made $5.7 billion.

Plus M$oft is getting back into tablets with Win 8 (tho they may screw it up).

Oh, and

In its news release announcing the results, Microsoft focused on its record revenues of $73.7 billion for the fiscal year just ended and $18 billion for the latest quarter, up 4 to 5 percent from year-earlier levels. The growth was led by server tools, business products such as Office, and entertainment and devices, which includes Xbox and the recently acquired Skype.

I guess you didn't actually read the article.

[ElNono]

Only reason there was a "loss" was because they wrote off goodwill on a company they purchased years ago. It was all on paper. I call bull on the loss being accounted to the "online services division".

The company they wrote off was an online advertising company, thus it fell on their online services division... from another article:

An accounting charge related to Microsoft’s ill-fated acquisition of an online advertising business led to a loss for the software giant’s last quarter, its first in more than two decades as a public company.

I guess you didn't actually read the article.

I guess nobody did...

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