Microsoft Reports Loss After a Write-Down

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/technology/microsoft-reports-a-loss-after-writedown.html?_r=1&hpw

An accounting charge related to Microsoft’s ill-fated acquisition of an online advertising business led to a loss for the software giant last quarter, its first in more than two decades as a public company.

But while that loss can be played down as an anomaly for a company that has been a reliable moneymaker for decades, weak sales in Microsoft’s Windows business cannot. Microsoft said on Thursday that its revenue from Windows fell 13 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30.