Microsoft vs. Google: A tale of two earnings reports
Jeremy Hobson: After the close on Wall Street yesterday, Microsoft announced its first quarterly loss ever. And Google announced a $2.8 billion profit for the quarter.
Two very different situations… But as Marketplace’s Scott Tong reports, each company’s numbers included a common “however.”
Scott Tong: Both Microsoft and Google are trying to digest acquisitions that so far have not panned out. Microsoft lowered the value of its acquisition of aQuantive, an online advertising firm, by more than $6 billion. Didn’t go well.
Google just bought Motorola’s mobile division — which posted $233 million in losses.
Neil Mawston of Strategy Analystics says both firms are trying to move into new lines of businesses — in a converging tech world.
Neil Mawston: In the past a lot of indsutirs would bre distinct, and compete within their own bubbles. But because of new technologieswe are seeing more and more companies strating to compete in each other’s terriotries.
And when a search company tries to go mobile. Or a software companies tries to do online advertising…
Mawston: If you move into those areas that you’re less familiar with, it can become harder to implement.
The reality: much of technology is going mobile. And everyone wants a piece of it.
I’m Scott Tong for Marketplace.
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