Microsoft makes first quarterly loss in 25 years

For the first time since 1986, when Microsoft went public, the software giant had to announce a modest loss. The company lost $492 million in the quarter, mainly due to a failed acquisition.

Earlier this month, Microsoft admitted that its acquisition of advertising company aQuantive was not a success and that it would write off $6.2 billion on the acquired company. As a result sorrow Microsoft made a relatively modest loss of $492 million in the last quarter, compared to a profit of $5.9 billion a year earlier. Revenue came in at $18.1 billion; a year ago that was still 17.4 billion dollars.

In addition to the acquisition, the figures for the Windows division and the division with Windows Phone and the Xbox were also disappointing. Microsoft’s server branch, on the other hand, performed well in the past quarter. For the full financial year, the software maker had revenues of $73.7 billion and a profit of $17 billion, significantly less than the $23 billion profit it made in its 2011 financial year.

from a webcast Microsoft’s financial data shows that 85 million computers, with or without Windows, were sold this quarter. The number of business PCs sold increased slightly, by 1 percent, while the number of consumer PCs decreased slightly, by 2 percent.

The number of phones sold with Windows Phone increased spectacularly, according to Microsoft, by 50 percent. The number of Xbox Live members increased by 15 percent, according to the software giant.