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"Microsoft has posted its first loss since joining the stock market in 1986. Despite revenue of $18.06 billion (\u00A311.5 billion) for the three months to June 30, 2012, the company announced a loss of $0.06 (\u00A30.04) per share on Thursday (July 19).  However, the news did not appear to have a negative effect on share prices, which rose by 1.6% after the results were announced. The loss came about after Microsoft decided earlier this month to write down the value of online advertising firm aQuantive by $6.2 billion (\u00A33.94 billion). aQuantive - Microsoft&amp;#039;s biggest ever acquisition at the time of purchase in August 2007 - was purchased for just over $6.3 billion (\u00A34.01 billion) in an all-cash transaction. However, the writedown came about when Microsoft decided that the deal had not accelerated growth &amp;quot;to the degree anticipated&amp;quot;. Microsoft has performed well in other respects, posting operating income of $192 million (\u00A3122 million) in the three months to June 30, 2012 and reporting growth in all of its service divisions except for the Windows &amp;amp; Windows Live Division. A decline of 13% for the fourth quarter and 3% for the full year was attributed to the decision to hold back $540 million (\u00A3343.8 million) which relates to the Windows Upgrade Offer. The company&amp;#039;s chief financial officer Peter Klein said in a statement that Microsoft will focus resources on &amp;quot;strategic areas that will deliver shareholder value and long-term growth opportunities&amp;quot;. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a394293/microsoft-posts-first-ever-loss-after-writing-down-aquantive-deal/>