Microsoft Takes $6B Ad Loss

Microsoft has announced an unprecedented $6.2B quarterly charge due primarily to its flagging battle with Google over search term advertising.

The non-cash charge announced Monday could saddle Microsoft with a loss for its fiscal fourth quarter ending in June. Analysts polled by FactSet had predicted Microsoft would earn about $5.3 billion for the period. Microsoft is scheduled to release its latest quarterly results on July 19. The software maker, which is based in Redmond, Wash., blamed the setback primarily on the disappointing performance of aQuantive. That's an online advertising service that Microsoft bought in 2007 for $6.3 billion. It was the most expensive acquisition in the company's 37-year history at the time, surpassed only by the $8.5 billion purchase of Skype last year.

Microsoft countered the bad news with the claim that Bing is "continuing to make incremental gains." Does anybody here use Bing?