Microsoft Figures Disappoint As Nokia Acquisition Starts To Sting

Microsoft has reported a $3.2 billion (£2.05bn) net loss for its fiscal fourth quarter, its biggest loss of all time, as the negative impacts from last year’s Nokia acquisition take hold.

Charges and layoffs, including the recently-announced 7,800 job cuts, from the 2014 purchase of the struggling phone manufacturer accounted for a $7.5 billion (£4.8bn) write-down with the effects being felt through the whole of Microsoft.

Total evenues have fallen 5 percent to $22.2 billion (£14.21bn) year-on-year

Consumer revenue down

The firm’s devices and consumer revenue fell 13 percent to $8.7 billion (£5.57bn). OEM revenue, which includes devices running Windows software made my manufacturers such as Dell and HP, fell 22 percent as the global PC market suffers a decline.

But CEO Satya Nadella said in a conference call with investors on Tuesday that he is “proud of the results [Microsoft] delivered”.

Revenue from consumer products such as the Surface tablet doubled annually to $888 million (£568m), with Xbox console and video game revenues rising 27 percent. But Microsoft’s consumer division as a whole still fell 13 percent.

There was some good news for investors in Microsoft’s commercial revenue, which managed to creep up ever so slightly to $13.5 billion (£8.64bn). This was mostly down to Microsoft’s commercial cloud revenue rocketing 88 percent, helped by Office 365, Microsoft Azure, and Dynamics CRM Online. Together, these services account for a yearly revenue of more than $8 billion. Microsoft’s server products and services revenue grew 4 percent.

“Our approach to investing in areas where we have differentiation and opportunity is paying off with Surface, Xbox, Bing, Office 365, Azure and Dynamics CRM Online all growing by at least double-digits,” said CEO Satya Nadella. “And the upcoming release of Windows 10 will create new opportunities for Microsoft and our ecosystem.”

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