NEWS - Friday, November 15, 2002
$177m Loss On Xbox Venture
On the day of the one year anniversary of the Xbox launch, documents filed with the US financial watchdog show that Microsoft's Home and Entertainment division, which includes the Xbox, lost $177m (£112m) in the three months leading up to September 30th according to this report on BBC. The loss in the home entertainment division has been put down to the high cost of marketing the game console and absorbing the cost of the price cuts Microsoft has been forced to get people buying it. The losses of the division look set to accelerate as Microsoft launches the Xbox Live service which lets people play each other via the internet. It said it would spend $2 billion over five years to fund this online venture. Despite the losses Microsoft will not have to rein in its marketing and promotional efforts any time soon. The company has a cash pile of more than $30 billion to fund expansion.Source: http://www.slashdot.org/
