“Microsoft Corp reported its first quarterly loss as a public company on Thursday as it took a previously announced hit for writing down the value of its ailing online unit and suffered stagnant sales of its flagship Windows operating system,” Bill Rigby reports for Reuters.
“After several years of stumbling behind mobile and Internet trailblazers Apple Inc and Google Inc, and a decade-long static share price, some expectation is building that Microsoft can re-establish itself as a tech leader with its new, touch-friendly Windows 8 system, due out on October 26, and an accompanying tablet of its own design.,” Rigby reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Those with that expectation deserve our pity, not our scorn, for they are obviously quite ill and likely incapacitated to the point where they are unable to feed themselves, go to the bathroom without assistance, or walk even short distances without a helmet and a drool bib.
Rigby reports, “The company reported a net loss of $492 million, or 6 cents per share for its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $5.87 billion, or 69 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. The loss was expected after Microsoft said earlier this month that it would take a $6.2 billion write-down for the value of its online unit after an ill-fated acquisition. Microsoft has not suffered a quarterly loss since going public in 1986.”
“The stock [MSFT] is up 10 percent so far this year, compared to a 14 percent gain in the tech-heavy Nasdaq,” Rigby reports. “But it has remained locked around the $30 level, which it has not exceeded for any prolonged period since the tech stock boom 12 years ago.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Balmy, you’re doing a heck of a job!
Related articles:
Apple bulldozes Street with blowout $39.2 billion revenue; shares rocket in after-hours trading – April 24, 2012
Apple stuns Street with massive $46.33 billion record revenue; all-time record Mac, iPhone, iPad sales – January 24, 2012