write down

(Newser) - Microsoft is absorbing a $6.2 billion charge to reflect its inability to produce more revenue from an online ad service that it bought nearly five years ago. The non-cash charge announced today could saddle Microsoft Corp. for its fiscal fourth quarter ending in June. Analysts polled by FactSet had...

(Newser) - After months of staggering writedowns battering Wall Street, some investors and executives are charging that accounting rules are exaggerating losses and triggering slumps like yesterday’s 315-point plunge in the Dow, reports the Wall Street Journal. Rules requiring companies to value holdings at current market rates, no matter how volatile,...

(Newser) - Merrill Lynch will announce $15 billion in losses stemming from mortgage investments, figure twice its earlier forecast, the New York Times reports. The firm is expected to raise $4 billion quickly from outside investors. New CEO John Thain, who has already sold a $5.6 billion stake to a Singapore...

(Newser) - eBay's $2.6 billion acquisition of phone service Skype looks like a wrong number, with profits on hold indefinitely. The Wall Street Journal reports eBay will take a $1.4 billion write down on Skype, which  accounts for $90 million of eBay's $1.83 billion in revenue in the third...