Microsoft have officially reported their first quarterly loss in its history. As we reported a short while ago, they were forced to write off some of the value of their online advertising business.

They had to write down the value of Aquantive by $6.2 billion, which failed to bring the profits expected by Microsoft. When this is factored in, they had to report a $492 million loss (£314 million), compared against a profit of $5.9 billion a year earlier.

Microsoft have never reported a loss since they joined the stock market in 1986. They took over Aquantive in 2007 but failed to mount a challenge against Google. They paid $6.3 billion for the company at the time.

Their operating system popularity declined, which is to be expected as current code has been on sale now for a long time. Windows 8 is due for release this October which should drive sales for the end of the year, even though many enthusiasts are expressing mixed feelings. They plan to go after Apple in the mobile tablet sector with the release of their ‘Surface' tablet, which will feature Windows 8. A double win for the company if it sells well.

Microsoft revenue is healthy, rising in the three months to June by 4% to $18.06 billion.

Kitguru says: They will assuredly bounce back, although the management will not be happy having to write off such a huge sum of money.

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