A $3 billion first year loss isn’t something even Microsoft can shrug off, particularly after 4 years of losses in the Xbox division. Microsoft wants to be profitable in this generation, and starting with a $3 billion loss isn’t going to make it any more feasible.[/quote]
Microsoft’s petty cash drawer has been shrinking like mad the past few years. X-Box losses, and cash settlements with Japan, the EU, some SU states, etc etc have dug deep into MS’s coffers. Remember, much of the money you hear the top guys at MS have is not “CASH” but “assets”.
A $3 billion first year loss isn’t something even Microsoft can shrug off, particularly after 4 years of losses in the Xbox division. Microsoft wants to be profitable in this generation, and starting with a $3 billion loss isn’t going to make it any more feasible.[/quote]
Microsoft’s petty cash drawer has been shrinking like mad the past few years. X-Box losses, and cash settlements with Japan, the EU, some SU states, etc etc have dug deep into MS’s coffers. Remember, much of the money you hear the top guys at MS have is not “CASH” but “assets”.[/quote]
Those are nothing compared to the $30 billion stock dividend last year. Yeah, so the company only has about $30 billion of cash on hand instead of $60 billion. We should all be so lucky.
A $3 billion first year loss isn’t something even Microsoft can shrug off, particularly after 4 years of losses in the Xbox division. Microsoft wants to be profitable in this generation, and starting with a $3 billion loss isn’t going to make it any more feasible.[/quote]
Microsoft’s petty cash drawer has been shrinking like mad the past few years. X-Box losses, and cash settlements with Japan, the EU, some SU states, etc etc have dug deep into MS’s coffers. Remember, much of the money you hear the top guys at MS have is not “CASH” but “assets”.[/quote]
Those are nothing compared to the $30 billion stock dividend last year. Yeah, so the company only has about $30 billion of cash on hand instead of $60 billion. We should all be so lucky.[/quote]
Gates alone bumped his net wealth up a nice percentage with the dividend. It’s been estimated that he made $3 billion by himself (he gave it all to his charity).
Those settlements with Sun and the states are downright paltry in comparison. Call it the price of doing business. MS makes that money back every quarter.
That one-time stock dividend is the main reason MS’ cash reserves dropped. But it was under pressure to do something with the money. I’m fairly sure that a corporation with absolutely no debt and $60+ billion in the bank had never happened before, and there are only so many T-Bills you can buy.
We’re not really arguing Microsoft’s ability to take a $3 billion loss as much as we’re arguing that it would still be fairly noticeable and unlikely given Microsoft’s plans.
Right, well I thought about the loss, and I agree that it’s unlikely. But they could make the money back through Xbox Live subsriptions. If a Gold subscriber pays $50 a year… Over a 5 year lifecycle that’s $250 in mostly profit. That doesn’t count for profits from memory cards, larger hard-drives, extra controllers (Which Microsoft is not licensing the wireless controller technology to third parties. But wired controllers yes.), and possibly on-demand sales through Xbox Live.
Anyway, it’s all speculation at this point. China could go to war with Taiwan tomorrow and the price of circuits will shoot the moon and Xbox 360 will be $2000 at launch.
We’re going by the quote in the original post.[/quote]
Sorry, what I meant is that many of you are suggesting the original post might be wrong about the selling price, but no one seems to be questioning how much MS really will spend per item. Is that really set in stone already, or is that also speculation?
We’re going by the quote in the original post.[/quote]
Sorry, what I meant is that many of you are suggesting the original post might be wrong about the selling price, but no one seems to be questioning how much MS really will spend per item. Is that really set in stone already, or is that also speculation?
