At the end of July 2012, representatives of Microsoft Corporation informed the public about the impressive monetary losses. The computer giant suffered quarterly losses for the first time in a quarter century. Their size was about $ 500 million.
For the second quarter of 2011, the largest software manufacturer's net profit was about $ 6 billion. Now, over the same period, the company is suffering losses. This news could not go unnoticed, because the corporation's shares are traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The current loss per share is $ 0.06, compared to a profit of $ 0.70 in 2011.
Many experts associate such sad indicators of 2012 with the extremely unsuccessful acquisition of the Internet advertising agency aQuantive. This purchase was made by Microsoft in 2007. The cost of the agency then amounted to $ 6, 3 billion. In early July, the corporation announced the write-off of 6, 2 billion from the activities of this agency. This amount will go to cover the costs incurred as a result of failed investments. It turns out that the purchase amount almost coincided with the volume of write-offs.
Microsoft acquired this ill-fated agency for a reason. The company sought in every way to strengthen its position in the online advertising market. However, the acquisition fell far short of expectations. Not only that, the agency was part of Microsoft's very unsuccessful internet investment policy. Analysts say the computer giant has suffered a crushing defeat against Google for the online advertising and search market. Microsoft has failed to boost its online ad revenues and rival Google, which has acquired aQuantive's counterpart DoubleClick.
Regardless, Microsoft is doing pretty well overall, aside from the loss of a failed purchase. The corporation's revenue for the second quarter of 2012 increased by 4% and amounted to 18.06 billion against last year's 17.36 billion dollars. But operating income fell from $ 6, 2 billion to $ 192 million.
