Microsoft’s Surface RT fallout: cue the class action lawsuit
https://latestsnewsforyou.blogspot.com/2013/08/microsofts-surface-rt-fallout-cue-class.html
Microsoft’s Surface RT nightmare is getting even worse. The failed tablet, which almost no one wanted wanted to buy, has now led to a class action lawsuit on the part of shareholders who claim Microsoft waited too long to fully admit just how bad RT sales were. By the time it acknowledged that it was taking a nearly billion dollar write down to rid itself of unsellable Surface RT tablets, some shareholders say it was too late to do them any good. And so now the money losing Surface venture is about to cost Redmond even more money.
The total revenue combined thus far on standard Surface RT tablets Windows-like Surface Pro tablets has been $853 million, only a fraction of which has been profit. But the entirety of that revenue has been erased by the $900 million RT write-off. That’s before factoring money lost on the massive Surface marketing this year. And now Microsoft will lose even more money on the Surface RT thanks to the lawsuit; even if it wins the case it’ll have to spend plenty on legal costs getting there.
The seeming black hole that is the Surface tablet initiative will lead to yet another round of calls for the head of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who is also fending off the fact that Windows 8 has been divisively unpopular with Windows users, along with controversy surrounding stringent rules proposed for buyers of the new Xbox console. But Surface, and Surface RT in particular, has been the biggest black mark on Ballmer’s thirteen year Microsoft resume – and the class action suit will make it that much darker.
The total revenue combined thus far on standard Surface RT tablets Windows-like Surface Pro tablets has been $853 million, only a fraction of which has been profit. But the entirety of that revenue has been erased by the $900 million RT write-off. That’s before factoring money lost on the massive Surface marketing this year. And now Microsoft will lose even more money on the Surface RT thanks to the lawsuit; even if it wins the case it’ll have to spend plenty on legal costs getting there.
The seeming black hole that is the Surface tablet initiative will lead to yet another round of calls for the head of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who is also fending off the fact that Windows 8 has been divisively unpopular with Windows users, along with controversy surrounding stringent rules proposed for buyers of the new Xbox console. But Surface, and Surface RT in particular, has been the biggest black mark on Ballmer’s thirteen year Microsoft resume – and the class action suit will make it that much darker.
