MS hit with $1.5bn fine.

[Maximus]

A previous judgement awarding Alcatel-Lucent $1.5bn has been upheld by a Federal Judge despite Microsoft's appeals.

Link

While $1.5bn may not seem much when put into context of the cash-pile that MS is currently sitting on, if this fine is coupled with the upcoming EU fine of $800m investors may start to worry and call for loss-making ventures (Xbox/Zune) to be cut. Also I am pretty sure that MS have got a couple of other big settlements coming up which will add another $1-2bn to the sum. So losing money on the Xbox will be increasingly difficult to justify, and secret payments (to Universal, Rockstar, Capcom etc...) will have to stop.

Interesting times eh?

[RUR]

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of folks.

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by KenB

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of folks.

Could have but didn't

[Forresttheman]

not to be contrary but how is MS losing money on the Xbox? Seems from the numbers that they have sold the most in the next-gen war... hmm. just wondering you resoning.

Forrest

[jubaiweaponx]

nice post maxpower,I have to say i`m in agreement couldn`t happen to a better company... ahh if only the powers that be could have made the fine a few billion more lol...........

[jubaiweaponx]

AND considering they were the 1st system out in the next gen war i`d give ps3 the benefit of the doubt that i`m sure more units will move ....

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by Forresttheman

not to be contrary but how is MS losing money on the Xbox? Seems from the numbers that they have sold the most in the next-gen war... hmm. just wondering you resoning.

Forrest

The Entertainment unit (which include the Xbox and Zune divisions) posted a loss of $500m in Q4 just gone, the hardware may break even, but all of those payments for exclusives and taking PS3 exclusives multiplatform costs a lot of money.

[ProvenFlipper]

Originally Posted by Forresttheman

not to be contrary but how is MS losing money on the Xbox? Seems from the numbers that they have sold the most in the next-gen war... hmm. just wondering you resoning.

Forrest

They have sold the most but each console they sell, loses MS money. Same way Sony takes a loss on every PS3 they sell. Microsoft still hasn't recouped the money they lost on the original XBox.

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by Forresttheman

not to be contrary but how is MS losing money on the Xbox? Seems from the numbers that they have sold the most in the next-gen war... hmm. just wondering you resoning.

Forrest

This is part of the picture .. http://ce.seekingalpha.com/article/32642

[Shin-Ra]

Originally Posted by ps3andlovinit

This is part of the picture .. http://ce.seekingalpha.com/article/32642

Beat me to it.

[JTK]

Another week and another fine or lawsuit lost/settled by MS.

Amazing...

[Greenmatiz2]

Good link, but I would side with the guy who said MS keeps up with this because they are worried about losing the "home entertainment" aspect of this. I expect them to offer downloaded movies in the future, and that's why they keep this up.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by Forresttheman

not to be contrary but how is MS losing money on the Xbox? Seems from the numbers that they have sold the most in the next-gen war... hmm. just wondering you resoning.

Forrest

well MS hasn't sold as many consoles as it wants to make you think. they count units shipped as units sold, they stuffed retailers with them in order to meet there 06 goal. second they will count a person trading in a core or pro for an elite as two seperate sales even though they have only put one console in his home. third they did ship some new console with red ring of death back to customers who had broken units. they counted these as units sold. so basically you buy and xbox, it breaks, ms sends you a new one and they claim they have sold two. as far as profits, as i stated they havn't sold that well and on top of it they are covering all s&h and repair costs with 3rl on top of the disc scrating on top of lower than expected sales of hd dvd add ons. they are not in good shape at all.

[nobody]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

A previous judgement awarding Alcatel-Lucent $1.5bn has been upheld by a Federal Judge despite Microsoft's appeals.

Link

While $1.5bn may not seem much when put into context of the cash-pile that MS is currently sitting on, if this fine is coupled with the upcoming EU fine of $800m investors may start to worry and call for loss-making ventures (Xbox/Zune) to be cut. Also I am pretty sure that MS have got a couple of other big settlements coming up which will add another $1-2bn to the sum. So losing money on the Xbox will be increasingly difficult to justify, and secret payments (to Universal, Rockstar, Capcom etc...) will have to stop.

Interesting times eh?

No big deal, that fine will be subsidized by x360 users...j/k

[Unkn0wn47]

Terrible! Just terrible! Hah

[GasCat]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

A previous judgement awarding Alcatel-Lucent $1.5bn has been upheld by a Federal Judge despite Microsoft's appeals.

Link

While $1.5bn may not seem much when put into context of the cash-pile that MS is currently sitting on, if this fine is coupled with the upcoming EU fine of $800m investors may start to worry and call for loss-making ventures (Xbox/Zune) to be cut. Also I am pretty sure that MS have got a couple of other big settlements coming up which will add another $1-2bn to the sum. So losing money on the Xbox will be increasingly difficult to justify, and secret payments (to Universal, Rockstar, Capcom etc...) will have to stop.

Interesting times eh?

LOL, they got caught but it isn't over yet. I will bet anyone they get the award reduced dramatically.