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Microsoft makes first loss ever of £313m, but should we care?

by Alistair Lowe on 20 July 2012, 10:00

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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Microsoft has posted its earnings for this quarter and, for the first time since the company began, announced a loss, which totalled £313 million.

This doesn't exactly spell doom and gloom for the firm however, as a whopping £3.94 billion had been lost this quarter writing down the value of acquired advertising firm, aQuantive, after it failed to meet growth expectations for the business. This is all on the head of Microsoft's Online Services Division, however, following on from our earlier report on the matter, it has now been revealed that the division's acquisition of Skype, has played a key roll in enhancing the business connectivity of Microsoft Office 2013 and, lately the team appears to be on a bit of a roll.

Microsoft's quarterly revenue was £18.06 billion, up four per cent over the same period last year, with strong growth in server (13 per cent) and business markets (seven per cent), online services (eight per cent) and entertainment and devices (20 per cent), primarily thanks to the addition of Skype.

Given that Microsoft is only months away from the release of Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Office 2013, Microsoft Surface RT and Pro, the firm has a lot of big, potential money makers to look forward to. As Microsoft's Windows and Live division was, up until now, seeing the largest decline within the company, as Windows 7 sales dropped off; expect Microsoft's frown to turn upside-down come its next few quarterly filings.

For a full break-down of the firm's quarterly and end of year postings, head on over to the following link: http://www.microsoft.com//investor/EarningsAndFinancials/Earnings/PressReleaseAndWebcast/FY12/Q4/default.aspx



HEXUS Forums :: 26 Comments

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I know some will attack me for this but I can't help but feel Microsoft are beginning to have a bit of an IBM moment. IBM sat happy making money and suddenly found themselves floundering when Windows appeared and stole their business. They responded with OS/2 which was by many accounts I've read better than Windows yet windows won. Wonder if Windows 8 might be Microsoft's OS/2? Lets face it all empires must fall eventually and in IBM's case it was no bad thing as it forced the company to reinvent itself.

I know people will respond by saying that Windows runs on 90% of all PCs and that Microsoft is always the default choice - Don't forget the phrase ‘No one gets fired for buying Microsoft products’ used to be ‘No one gets fired for buying IBM products’.

I could of course be wrong but I think Microsoft are just too late to the game and don't have a good reputation in the home consumers mind - Just ask a guy on the street if he'd rather have Windows or Apple products….
cheesemp
Wonder if Windows 8 might be Microsoft's OS/2?

Bet there is still no alternative to the mass market on the PC ? OS/2 was up against a developed mass marketed OS, not really the same with windows 8. Windows 8 may not succeed against Android or Apple iOS in the mobile game but it will succeed on the desktop/Laptop.


Is this not the first lose since the company was floated on the stock market - not the first lose ever in the companies history. I read elsewhere that alot of media are reporting the facts slightly incorrectly regarding this.
Brewster0101
Bet there is still no alternative to the mass market on the PC ? OS/2 was up against a developed mass marketed OS, not really the same with windows 8. Windows 8 may not succeed against Android or Apple iOS in the mobile game but it will succeed on the desktop/Laptop.


Is this not the first lose since the company was floated on the stock market - not the first lose ever in the companies history. I read elsewhere that alot of media are reporting the facts slightly incorrectly regarding this.

Have you seen the number of people buying Apple desktop PCs at the moment? Every time I walk past the apple store in southampton I seem to see someone leaving with one and its all PCWorld seem to pushing now. This is the risk Microsoft are taking with Metro - By forcing people to learn a new system what stops them from going to competitor to learn the new system? Saying that I think Microsoft main competitor in the short term is definitely Windows 7.
The facts speak more volumes that “I saw someone leave PC World with a Mac”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems

Most people can't afford or don't want a Mac, thus it commands <10% of the market, the majority of the rest are buying Windows PCs. Consumers are only part of the picture, most businesses have no place for Macs as they are simply harder to administrate when business desktops (as a Systems Admin I have hands on here, Active Directory + Group Policy and other Microsoft technology is genuinely unrivaled) and thus only get a share in small creative type businesses where there is a software driven need to own them. That or being a ponce and trying to have a “sexy office” (cringe).

Mac has always and will for the foreseeable future be a niche in laptops and desktops, iPad's are gadgets not computers and the perceived (IMHO misplaced) consumer love doesn't carry over fully.

Ask a man on the street does he want Apple - yes but he probably wants an iPad/iPhone, ask him if he'd buy a Mac and show him the price and he'd probably say no it's too expensive.
As much as I'd like to see a challenger to the OS monopoly of MS Windows, I don't see that happening any time soon. Unless iOS starts being shipped on new PCs etc, it will remain a niche product but with the profit margin Apple has… they simply don't care.