Microsoft announced that they were enacting an accounting adjustment that will lead to its first quarterly loss in 26 years as a public company. This is a byproduct of weakness in its online ad business.
Microsoft paid $6.3 billion for aQuantive, but Google expanded its share of the online ad market. The charge led to a $492 million loss in the April-June quarter, or 6 cents a share, compared with earnings of $5.9 billion, or 69 cents, a year ago.
The company is expecting relief when it launched Windows 8 on October 26, 2012 and their next version of Office in the following year. Both products will reflect Microsoft’s renewed emphasis on tablets.
Source: USA Today