Microsoft reports its first ever loss

Microsoft headquarters in Seattle

The software giant Microsoft has made its first-ever quarterly loss after it wrote off some of the value of its online advertising business.

That led to a 492 million Dollars loss in the three months to the end of June, compared with a profit of 5,900 million Dollars a year ago.

The loss came after it wrote down the value of Aquantive by 6,200 million Dollars, which failed to bring the profits expected by Microsoft. Microsoft paid 6,300 million Dollars for Aquantive when the software giant took it in 2007, but it struggled to compete with rival Google.

Microsoft has not made a loss since it joined the stock market in 1986.

Microsoft is doing well in other areas, despite the decline in popularity of its Windows operating system, which dominated the personal computer market for years. Revenue for the three months to June rose by 4 percent to 18,000 million Dollars.

Excluding the adjustment for the asset write-down, and the holding back of some income related to the launch of its Windows 8 system, Microsoft profits beat those expected by investors. Shares were up 1.6 percent after the results were announced.

Microsoft said the update of the Windows systems is the most important redesign in more than 10 years. Windows 8, which will launch in October, will feature a new look that will present applications in a mosaic of tiles.

The company stressed it will also enable the operating system to work on tablet computers, which along with smart phones are the fastest-growing sector of the computing market.

Microsoft is also planning to release its own tablet, the Surface. Also, earlier this week the software firm previewed its next version of the Office system, which is expected to be released next year.