Investors Suing Microsoft Over Misleading Surface RT Info
It seems that the press wasn't the only entity unaware of how dismal Surface RT sales were until Microsoft's fourth quarter and full year results report back in July. The company revealed a $900 million "inventory adjustment" thanks to a stockpile of unsold Surface RT tablets, and now Microsoft investors are suing the company, claiming that they were "misled" because Microsoft failed to fully disclose sales figures of the Surface RT tablet during a specific window.
The class action lawsuit was filed by the Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd law firm in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. It was on behalf of purchasers of Microsoft common stock during the period between April 18, 2013 and July 18, 2013, aka the "Class Period". It claims that Microsoft violated the Securities Exchange Act by providing materially false and misleading statements regarding financial performance related to the ARM-based tablet.
According to the lawsuit, Microsoft misrepresented and failed to make public the fact that Surface RT was suffering poor demand and lackluster sales, that the overall inventory experienced a material decline in value during the quarter ending March 31, and that the financial statements for the same quarter were materially false and misleading. This non-disclosure of actual facts violated Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Microsoft’s publicly disclosed policy of accounting for inventories.
The class-action lawsuit also alleges that Microsoft's Form 10-Q for its third quarter failed to disclose then presently known trends, events or uncertainties associated with the Surface RT that would likely have a material effect on Microsoft’s future operating results. Ultimately Microsoft is accused of having no basis for making positive statements about Surface RT during the defined Class Period knowing full well that Surface tablet sales overall were extremely poor.
The icing on the cake, according to the lawsuit, was the financial results for the fiscal 2013 fourth quarter and year end. The company reported revenue of $19.9 billion and net income of $4.97 billion, or $0.59 per share. These results were impacted by the $900 million inventory charge which amounted to $.07 per share. Thus common stock took the biggest hit in four years, dropping $4.04 per share, or 11.4 percent.
Adding to that, in late July, Microsoft admitted that the combined revenue of Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets was only $853 million since the tablet series launched in October 2012 (Surface Pro didn't appear until February 2013). That's less than the charge Microsoft took thanks to the stockpile of Surface RT tablets, thus the tablet division was nearly $50 million in the hole due to the Surface RT model.
Plaintiffs seek to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Microsoft common stock during the Class Period, the firm said. In addition to Microsoft on a whole, individual defendants named in the lawsuit include CEO Steve Ballmer, former CFO Peter Klein, VP of Finance Frank Brod and Executive VP of Marketing Tami Reller.
The actual lawsuit can be read in pdf format here. Microsoft shareholders wanting a piece of the Redmond pie are encouraged to contact the law firm via its website no later than October 11, 2013.
MSFT would be wise to settle, ASAP.
Not the way to do business.
As for the lawsuit, this is normal. When there is leftover inventory the company liquidates it and pulls it from profits. Not sure how this will go but it makes me feel like this is investors suing a company who started something new but failed. At least in the old days you used to invest with the risk of total loss. But I guess now you just sue to get your money back.
As for the lawsuit, this is normal. When there is leftover inventory the company liquidates it and pulls it from profits. Not sure how this will go but it makes me feel like this is investors suing a company who started something new but failed. At least in the old days you used to invest with the risk of total loss. But I guess now you just sue to get your money back.
Surface pro yes, but not the surface RT. It fails as a tablet due to the lack of apps in comparison to IPAD and Android and it fails as a PC because you can't install windows programs on it. Then you get to the price, and you're like no thanks!!!!
Now if the surface pro came down to ipad/android price level, then we're talking. But as it stands now, you can buy a dedicated tablet with better battery life as a tablet, as well as a cheaper PC that outperforms the surface pro for the same amount of money.
Cheers
Investors
should have just stuck with x86. duh.
I actually believe there is a way to do both, elegantly. But this isn't it.
As for the lawsuit, this is normal. When there is leftover inventory the company liquidates it and pulls it from profits. Not sure how this will go but it makes me feel like this is investors suing a company who started something new but failed. At least in the old days you used to invest with the risk of total loss. But I guess now you just sue to get your money back.
Microsoft misrepresented the risk, which is illegal. That's the only reason this class-action suit has an extremely high probability of succeeding in court. Had MS presented their financial information accurately, most of those investors would have steered clear. Since MS misrepresented their financial information by not accurately reporting sales data for Surface and SurfaceRT, many investors believed the stock was safe.
Not all investors read tech news prior to buying stock. If they did, there'd be much less shock when things like this happen.
The investors are stupid for believing financial information that's required by law to be as accurate as possible? MS intentionally hid financial data from investors knowing full well what the outcome would be once it was made public. The investors had no way of knowing that MS was falsifying financial data as it's an illegal act to do so. MS could actually end up facing criminal charges by the time this is over....if the DoJ even cares anymore...
*$853 million in revenue, and assume most of the sales are Surface Pro. Surface Pro's cheapest model is $800, but because its likely majority of the sales, the Average Selling Price won't be much lower than $800. The Surface RT's starting price(sans the recent price cut) is $499 now? Even assuming the ASPs of combined RT/Pro is $499, it means they have sold only 1.7 million. Likely the ASP is close to $700 and therefore end up with only 1.1-1.2 million in sales.
That's pathetic. Unfortunately it'll take more than that to convince Board to fire Ballmer.