“The law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd has filed a class-action suit against Microsoft over what it claims was misleading information on the company’s Surface RT sales,” Mary Jo Foley reports for ZDNet.
“Neowin.net posted about the suit on August 13, noting that it names as defendants Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, former Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein, Corporate Vice President Frank Brod and Executive Vice President of Marketing Tami Reller,” Foley reports. “The case was filed in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on behalf of purchasers of Microsoft stock between April 18, 2013 and July 18, 2013.”
Foley reports, “The firm is claiming that Microsoft “issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s financial performance and its tablet computer, the Surface RT.” It is claiming that the company’s financial statements for the quarter ending March 31, 2-13 were ‘materially false and misleading’ and that Microsoft officials made misleading positive statements about the Surface RT during the ‘class period.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Roast ’em and toast em, bloodsucking sharks!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Edward W.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Desperate Microsoft cuts Surface Pro tablet prices; could signal even more losses – August 6, 2013
Microsoft’s Surface sales figures are in, and they’re a total disaster – July 30, 2013
Microsoft earnings, sales badly miss expectations; $900 million inventory writedown on Surface tablet flop – July 18, 2013
Gartner: Apple to overtake Microsoft in total OS sales in 2015 – June 25, 2013
Apple Macintosh owns 45% of PC market profits – April 16, 2013
Steve Jobs’ revenge – April 12, 2013
Apple Macintosh on the rise as Windows PC market plummets – April 11, 2013
Gartner: PC Market posts 11.2 percent decline in Q113; Apple Mac sales up 7.4 percent in U.S. – April 10, 2013
IDC: PC shipments post the steepest decline ever in a single quarter, down 13.9% in Q113 – April 10, 2013
Stick a fork in their ass, turn ’em over, they’re done.
O’ man, that is not going to be a pretty picture. I probably just lost my appetite for the next couple hours. 🙂
Rorschach seems to have been raised in a ghetto without the benefit of learning to express himself in a polite respectful way.
What you just wrote is not very “polite or respectful” either.
This is a simple case of calling a spade a shovel. It was harsh as it was well deserved. Rorschach has a long history of using vulgar language in the most disrespectful way and needs to stop. He is disrespectful to us all and I did not use foul language or ‘potty talk’.
I don’t know Rorschach, but the quote comes from the last line of Lou Reeds song – Last Great American Whale. His 1989 album, New York, is an amazing piece of social commentary on many aspects of the nations and city’s culture.
Personally, I didn’t find the line/quote offensive in the least. It does trouble me, however, when people assert a moral high ground particularly in the absence of any sense of humour.
3l3 is the self appointed language police here. He hasn’t figured out we probably don’t have readers here that are still in grade school. That statement was not that vulgar.
Agreed , it’s a given that 3I3c throws around his comments and thinks he speaks for more then himself, for the past many months if you have some time to waste, go back and look at all of his posts, they reflect the same narrow mindedness of this reply he just made and some are even worse.
Most of us here just ignore his posts and have just chalked it up to Spam and worthless static.
Microsoft: no class, no action, just suits.
This is what you get with a salesman in charge.
“Sell, Sell, Sell, Talk it up guys.” loudly, until later when it is quietly “Write off.”
Oh this is classic! If you bought MS stock, you got what you deserved. Any good judge will kick this suit out, observing that the suckers who bought MS thinking that Surface had any real potential, as obviously dead from the neck up.
Forward looking statements, unless you can prove gross, *intentional* misstatements (which is virtually impossible to prove), come under the “Safe Harbor” rules.
Each investor is expected to take *all* projections with a huge grain of salt. If you gamble and lose then you gambled.
Sure the Surface RT was/is a crap product. Did any investor actually expect Microsoft to say that? Never going to happen. When any company pitches a product they always say it’s going to sell very well.
Should Apple have been hit with a class action suit for sales projections on some of its lesser selling projects? Should Apple have been sued for not selling enough Pippins? or MacTVs or Centris machines? Should there have been a class action suit because Apple had many unsold Lisas that ended up in a landfill?
This lawsuit should thrown out in a heartbeat.
“Terminated. With extreme prejudice.” 😆
Rounding errors.
Must have been the DaVinci virus blamed on hackers.
I’m no M$ fan but this is a frivolous lawsuit.
That being said follow the link over to the original article and read the comments from the M$ defenders, priceless.
I remember the Windows where I used to work brag and needle me about how the Surface Tablet was an “iPad Killer” and how the Windows Phone was an “iPhone Killer.”
They’re quiet these days.
A least the Surface was original …..
May Mr. Ballmer remain for as long as it takes!
Okay, much as I like to hate Microsoft, their stock went UP by 14% during the period in question, and hasn’t really come down. WTF are they suing over, that they made money?
Yep
They were shorts.
I can only imagine what SteveB will says when he first learned about the CAS…
Notes to SteveB:
Here we go again, MSFT naysayers and haters are coming out in full force and intend to destroy MSFT by filing shitty lawsuit.
Pay no attention to them, SteveB!! You are the best CEO on the face of this Earth.
“we” all want to see more of your great products such as Surface RT, Surface Pro, Microsoft Bob, Windows 95, Kin, and Zune.
I will never able to afford to attend ANY concert if I don’t lining up the great new MSFT Store for the free concert ticket.
I fully support your effort to sail Microsoft to where it deserver!!
/s /s /s /s /s … 🙂
CORRECTION
“…I fully support your effort to sail Microsoft to where it deserve !!”
Meet the new Enron…
Steve, didn’t you know that Microsoft is a public company and you have to respond before the shareholders and the SEC for every lie you tell just to get back at apple?
Bloodsucking sharks is right. While it is a given that the RT was a complete failure, this is just funny because the sharks smell blood on the water and go at it. There is no merit to the case, but that’s the way the game is played.
They should file a class action against Ballmer on general principle. That one wouldn’t be so laughable.
Someone didn’t do their due diligence before purchasing Microsoft stock. Even a cursory look at their historical statements on sales would show MS figures are arrived at with smoke and mirrors.
Caveat emptor as always.
What has Microsoft ever told the truth about?
Now, how about a class action suit against Windows ME, Vista, 7 and 8 ?
7 is fairly good, when compared to ME, Vista and 8.
But 7 still blows major chunks.
Maybe it’s just the funnel of my exposure, but there’s something going on here:
M.Dell to Apple: Give the money back and shut down.
Dell: 0 Apple: 1
BBerry to Apple: Amateur Hour is over
BBery: 0 Apple: 1
Msoft to Apple: It doesn’t even have a keyboard!
Msoft: 0 Apple: 1
Msoft to Apple: Click!
Msoft: 0 Apple: 2
Msoft to Apple: Our stores have concert tickets!
Msoft: 0 Apple: 3
Ssung to Apple: The future is now
Ssung: 0.5 Apple: 1
I couldn’t think of any incrementing quotes from Palm/HP, but then I note that HP isn’t suffering the death of competing with Apple.
Feel free to pile on to the Karma list 🙂
Roger McNamee (Elevation Partners, big investor in Palm):
“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”
Palm: 0 Apple: 1
There you have it.
Not that the class action will cripple Microsoft (sadly).