Microsoft in first loss to date

Computing giant Microsoft has made the first

quarterly loss in its history after it wrote off

some of the value of its online advertising

business.

The loss came after it wrote down the value of

Aquantive by $6.2bn (£3.94bn; 5bn euros), which

failed to bring the profits expected by Microsoft.

That led to a $492m loss in the three months to

the end of June, compared with a profit

of $5.9bn a year ago.

The company has not made a loss since it joined

the stock market in 1986.

It took over Aquantive in 2007 but it struggled to

compete with rival Google.

Microsoft paid $6.3bn for Aquantive.

Microsoft is doing well in other areas, despite the

decline in popularity of its Windows operating

system, which dominated the personal computer

market for years.

Revenue for the three months to June rose by 4% to

$18.06bn.

Mosaic

Excluding the adjustment for the asset write-down,

and the holding back of some income related to the

launch of its Windows 8 system, Microsoft profits

beat those expected by investors.

Shares were up 1.6% after the results were

announced.

Microsoft says the update of the Windows systems

is the most important redesign in more than 10

years.

Windows 8, which will launch in October, will

feature a new look that will present applications in

a mosaic of tiles.

Importantly, it will also enable the operating system

to work on tablet computers, which along with

smartphones are the fastest-growing sector of the

computing market.

Microsoft is also planning to release its own tablet,

the Surface.

Earlier this week, Microsoft previewed its next

version of the Office software suite, which is

expected to be released next year