Microsoft's Financial Black Hole
I’ve covered the woes of Microsoft’s Online Services Division many times over the past few years. The numbers have been awful. And unbelievably, they have continued to get worse. But not even I thought things could get this bad.
Reports Bill Rigby for Reuters:
But on Monday, it [Microsoft] announced a $6.2 billion writedown of a 2007 Internet-advertising acquisition - a reminder that Microsoft has a patchy track record when it ventures outside of its Windows and Office comfort zone.
Days later, Vanity Fair blamed Steve Ballmer’s “astonishingly foolish” leadership for a “lost decade”, in one of the most scathing articles ever written about the CEO.
It was not the news agenda Microsoft had in mind as it prepared to unveil fourth-quarter results on July 19. The writeoff is expected to hand the company its first quarterly loss - on paper - since going public in 1986.
Holy shit.
