Microsoft makes first ever loss
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Microsoft 's advertising business struggled
to compete with rival Google |
The computing giant Microsoft has made its first-ever quarterly loss 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.