Options cost would cut Microsoft profit
Reuters | at | by Mike
Microsoft's net income in the last quarter would have been almost a quarter lower if it had expensed employee stock options, the world's largest software maker said in a regulatory filing on Monday. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has said that while it understood the "economic rationale" of expensing stock options, it would continue to exclude them from earnings calculations along with other technology industry bellwether companies.
Stock-based employee compensation under the "fair value method" would have cost Microsoft $656 million for its fiscal third quarter ended March 31, the software maker said in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.