Microsoft Reports First Quarterly Loss in 26-Year History

Thanks to a massive $6.2 billion charge announced a couple of weeks ago, Microsoft on Thursday recorded its first quarterly loss in its 26-year history as a public company. 

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Without other charges along with the big write-down -- taken because the software giant wildly overpaid when it acquired online advertising firm aQuantive five years ago --  Microsoft would have earned $6.9 billion.

Revenue in the company's fiscal fourth quarter rose 4 percent to a record $18.1 billion while operating income shrunk to $192 million from $6.2 billion in the year-ago quarter.

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Microsoft said its loss per share was 6 cents, reversing a profit of 69 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Shares of Microsoft rose 1 percent to $30.67 during regular trading and were up another 3 percent during the after-hours session.