“A flopped acquisition may lump Microsoft with the first loss in its 26-year history as a public company when the software maker releases its latest quarterly results Thursday,” The Associated press reports.

“The fiscal fourth-quarter numbers, due out after the stock market closes, will include a $6.2 billion charge to reflect that Microsoft’s 2007 acquisition of online ad service aQuantive hasn’t yielded the returns envisioned by management,” AP reports. “The non-cash charge is so large that it could wipe out Microsoft’s earnings from April through June. Analysts polled by FactSet had predicted Microsoft would earn about $5.3 billion in the three-month span. That doesn’t reflect the aQuantive charge. Microsoft didn’t spell out how its quarterly results would be affected when it announced the charge on July 2.”

AP reports, “Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., has never previously reported a quarterly loss since the company’s initial public offering in March 1986… Excluding the aQuantive charge and certain other items, analysts surveyed by FactSet expect Microsoft to earn 62 cents per share on revenue of $18.2 billion.”

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MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft’s earnings or lack thereof.