Microsoft Saves Millions Of Dollars In Taxes In UK

By booking sales in Ireland, Microsoft has evaded tax worth $143.59 million in UK

Microsoft Corporation has allegedly been avoiding making a British Corporation tax payment of $143.59 million according to a “confidential deal” with British taxation authorities. The agreement supposedly lets the information technology company sends its revenue through its Ireland based operations, which charges a tax rate of 12.5%, which is quite low compared to the Britain’s 20%.

As per reports by the Sunday Times, since 2011 the organization has sent “more than $11.7 billion” (US equivalent of £8bn) through Ireland and the important sections of its overseas structure were ratified by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the so-called advance pricing contract signed 4 years. Under the agreement, the inquiry found, revenue earned from online purchases by customers in UK could be recorded through the Dublin based Microsoft Ireland Operations.

Sunday Times has reported that from June last year MIO accounts have shown that sales in Britain generate a sum of over $3.35 billion in 2015. Nevertheless, the tax payment by the British division of the organization was $24.65 million. Nevertheless, according to the findings, Sunday Times has claimed that the taxation authority has signed 143 advance pricing contracts in the half a decade starting from 2009 and ending in 2014 alone.

The taxation authorities would not reportedly reveal any further details on the agreements, citing confidentiality. By no means, Microsoft is the only foreign organization running in the country that is enjoying the present legal regime. Other tech organizations-including Google as well as Facebook- have earlier been criticism for similar issues.

The American social networking service provider Facebook was challenged by a backlash following the revelation that it was employing alike tax avoidance strategies.2 years ago, the organization only paid $6311 in British Corporation tax on the profit of $2.9 billion earned that year. In comparison, on an average the tax billion for its British workers was $7865.80.

After being criticized, the Menlo Park based organization stated it would stop routing its sales for its main business clients through Ireland. In other news, following the disclosure of the details regarding the confidential agreement between HRMC and Microsoft, campaigners have raised the demand that the regime must publish every detail of any deal signed with multinationals.

In other news, as per reports by Silicon Republic Microsoft Corporation has employed 1200 persons in Ireland and is constructing a new campus worth $152.05 million in Leopardstown. Previously this year, Verge reported that Google also exploited the tax arrangement in Britain and instead of paying more than $220 million in taxes it paid just around $29 million by recording its sales revenue in Ireland which means it was charged an effective tax rate of more than 2.5%.

 

Amazon Might Just Give Netflix A Tough Time

Amazon is offering better pricing to its online video subscribers

At this point things tension has escalated a lot between Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The latter is now competing with the streaming giant by coming up with Prime Video. The company wishes to beseech the business of Amazon and wishes to become the platform for online video streaming.

Late Saturday, a press release surfaced by the company which announced the debut of a video streaming platform. Initially this service was part and parcel of the Amazon Prime membership but now it will function as a standalone application. This service will be offered free of cost to all prime subscribers along with other freebies they get as perks for the annual membership. Some of the advantages of Prime are access to free music libraries, vast catalog of films and TV series, shipping in two days etc. So far the company has priced the service at $99.

At this point AMZN is going head on against Netflix, online streaming giant. Thus the monthly subscription charges for the Prime Video service are said to be $8.99 per month. This is $1 less than the price offered by Netflix to its subscribers for monthly subscriptions. This seems to be a well thought out strategy by the company to eat up Netflix’s share of business. The basic offering is priced at $9 but users can opt for an add on of $2 which will grant them several other benefits. The benefits are similar to what is being offered to Prime subscribers like cloud storage, access to music libraries, two hour delivery in a bunch of cities along with others.

Initially the company was following a different strategy where they were endorsing their service on annual basis for $100. So all Amazon users who signed once could take leverage out of the service throughout the year. However, the company has tweaked its strategy. It is common observation that people do not like making payments upfront and sometimes they are also skeptical about the service. So offering a monthly subscription gives control to the user and adds to their convenience. Thus users are free to opt for monthly subscription for $8.99 for Prime Video or can opt for the complete service for $10.99 per month.

Hence it is easy to predict that Amazon has a significant leverage now. If all the subscribers of the service opt for the full membership then the price will be cost $131.88 for an annum. This means that the company will get $31.88 more if users opt for monthly payments instead of annual. On the other hand, the company has clearly mentioned that the benefits which the company enjoys from the annual service will not be altered whatsoever.

The reason why the company does not want to alter Prime is that only few people will be interested in signing up for complete membership. Most of the subscribers have paid $100 for the Instant Video service. They could not come up with a logical explanation of why to pay for the complete service when it is useless for them.

 

France To Become The Next Silicon Valley Thanks To Microsoft Corporation

French startup enterprise has been targeted by Microsoft Corporation and it plans on supporting this enterprise’s developments in cloud computing and artificial intelligence

French startup enterprise has been targeted by Microsoft Corporation and it plans on supporting this enterprise’s developments in cloud computing and artificial intelligence. An investment of $89.4 million or 83 million Euros has been made by the chief executive officer of the multinational American corporation, Satya Nadella. This investment is to be distributed amongst the startup enterprises along with schools in the country as well.

As per the agreement, 300 countries are to benefit from this investment and funding in a three year startup support program by the technology company. The aim of the CEO for this investment is to create the next Silicon Valley in France. This announcement came after the CEO of Microsoft; Nadella met with the president of France, Francois Hollande and this is one of the new ventures amongst the seven that the company has been carrying on all over the world. These ventures have been carried out to support micro enterprises in initiate and bring about revolutionary technology.

The CEO, Satya Nadella stated that the tech giant wants to wants to be supportive of these young and new entrepreneurs and become a bridge from them to enter the tech market. This statement was made when the CEO made a visit to Paris. “Microsoft For Start-Up of French Tech” will be receiving 70 million euros worth of investment while the rest of the investment from the initial amount will go to the schools in France. The reason distributed the rest of the amount to school is to support and encourage computer code in classes. They are aiming at making these classes more innovative and further interesting so young people strive in the future and further have a sense of technology from an early stage in life.

Microsoft news revealed that the company has earlier made such investments towards education as well and this is not the first time; earlier last year in November, the tech giant made an investment in a block building game called Minecraft. This game gave its users, mainly the younger generation, the opportunity to be innovative and imaginative; additionally using their imaginative skills to create and building different things with these blocks. This move made it more evident that the company is very serious about tech development and innovation when it comes to education and are not just conducting social corporate responsibility but actually mean what they are doing.

A presentation will be held at the Ministry of Education in which this matter of educational development will be further discussed. The company has been making such investments globally, as mentioned above, but France is currently the only country the company has been working on currently. Startup investments earlier have been made in Germany, The United States, Israel, China and India.

Furthermore, the tech giant has shown added interest in making these investments in India; additionally it has a subsidiary company there as well by the name of Microsoft India Private Limited. This startup investment includes providing wi-fi in remote areas of the country including an amount of $120,000 worth of Azure Credit.

 

Microsoft Stock To Witness A Fall In Near Future

The software giant is expected to see some lower lows in the near future, given some sluggish sales in the third quarter of the year

Microsoft Corporation managed to gain by a massive difference before the start of the current financial 12 month period and has so far maintained its position, by going down by only 3 percent in the year so far. This is being taken by the analysts as an accomplishment by the software giant but for the ones who are looking at the future perspective of the stock, it is to be believed that a little upgrade here and there does not guarantee future strength and this might just be what keeps the investors in the company confused about what to expect from it.

Microsoft stock has also been showing a lot of signs where it seems to be growing to its maximum capacity, but analysts know that once it reaches the top, the next level will be of hitting a lower end, which is why a dip in the share value can be expected in the near future. On the other hand, the equity firms which have been keeping a close eye on the stock movements being made by the software company have repeatedly informed the investors that by keeping a track on the lower high values seen on the stock, it can be judged that in the upcoming few months, the same movements can take the share price a little more downwards, by hitting off even lower highs than before.

This trend being followed for some time by Microsoft business has made the analysts a little over to the bearish side, but are still of the opinion that the new developments and new technology that the tech company seems to be working on could turn out to be the armor that pulls in back from the deep waters it was previously seen in, in the stock market.

The software giant is also preparing itself to report its third quarter earnings for the present year on October 22, and the expected earnings per share that the firm is expected to make might come around $0.58. Previously, the same tech giant managed to get an EPS of $0.60, which relatively shows how this quarter has not been that great for the giant. As for the analysts firms covering its stock, around nineteen have provided it with a rating of a ‘buy’ while five equity firms believe that the company deserves a ‘sell’ rating, supported by the lower lows it has been facing in the market for some time. The short interest ratio, however, has been recorded at 1.99.

 

Microsoft To Work On A Surface Phone

The firm is expected to launch a Surface Phone at the October 6 event going to take place next month

Analysts in the tech industry have come around to be a little bearish about Microsoft Corporation considering how its rivals like Apple and Google have been performing in the industry lately. It is their opinion that in order bring about a change in the sales and popularity of the firm, it is needed that the giant goes through some much needed changes in the strategies being followed by the management so that it comes to the level of carrying out business like the other firms in the industry.

It is not a hidden fact that the rivals of the software giant have been enjoying a dominant position in the smart phone market for quite some time and this has helped the revenue generated by both the firms on a massive level. In order to compete with the growing sales pressure, analysts have suggested the tech giant to look for new options to try so that it can compete with the rivals in an effective manner.

Analysts at Bidness ETC believe that the event on October 6 that Microsoft business has scheduled to take place is most probably going to be about a smart phone that the firm wishes to introduce in the market, and it could even be that it is actually a Surface Phone that ends up being released after all. The software company has so far not shown any success in the smart phone industry as rivals like Apple and Google have been leading the space by a huge margin, leaving no space for the tech firm to enter properly.

Even though Microsoft tried to make a mark in the industry by introducing the multiple Nokia phones in the form of the Lumia series, that turned out to be not half as bad as the firm’s previous experiences, but also did not give the required results as it was meant to do, according to Microsoft news. The firm also shows that it has the correct space to introduce more smart phones in the industry, that too which are supported by Windows and not Android, as reported according to latest Microsoft updates.

Analysts are thinking about how the firm can actually end up using the Surface series to make a phone that turns out to be the start of a new legacy. Since the software giant has always received a very positive response for all of its Surface products so far released in the market, the idea of a Surface does not sound strange to the analysts and it is also expected that a phone will be launched by the giant which ends up competing with Apple’s and Samsung’s phones.

 

Microsoft Gets Upgraded By Analysts

The software business has been upgraded by an equity firm that believes the sales of PCs is in line with the expectations of analysts

Microsoft Corporation has been upgraded by the analysts at Pacific Crest Securities, an equity firm which was recently seen to run coverage on the stock of the software firm in a research note. The software business giant has been granted an ‘overweight’ rating by the analysts of the firm along with an increased and much positive price target of $55, according to Microsoft stocks updates.

The equity analysts have reported that the positive outlook on the stock is due to the high expectations that they have from the new Windows 10, which is predicted to reach new heights once it gets fully launched in the market. The analysis has not only been made for the current time period, but analysts are also of the opinion that this positivity on the stock is going to continue for the next two to four financial quarters as well, if things go according to plans made by the tech company.

Even though sales of personal computers declined for the past few quarters and failed to meet expectations of analysts for a very long time, this time things seemed to be a little different as the equity firm’s analysts have mentioned in their report how the sales expectations being made by Microsoft business are now being comfortably met. These expectations have been set by the Street’s analysts and the release of Windows 10 is another factor which is being looked at quite empathically, as it is bringing back the lost attention to the firm’s business coming from the users.

Reportedly, there are quite a number of retailers who are seen making sales of personal computers with Windows 8 installed on it instead of the latest one. However, there are also many retailers who are considering updating the stock of PCs with the Windows 10 in order to make the computers more valuable. A survey that was made to see the reason for the increasing sales showed that even though the sales of PCs has increased by a huge number, it is not because of the new Windows that this is taking place. The main reason for the rise in the higher demand for PCs is more because of the back-to-school season that is currently going on.

Analysts also mentioned that by this fact, it does not mean that the new Windows are by any chance less popular with the crowd because it has received more attention of the users than expected. However, users seem to be demanding to get the new operating system installed in their computers and analysts believe that if the supply is enough and the demand is looked after properly, there is a chance the firm earns more than predictions through the new software.

 

Microsoft Corp Released Deals with Gold for Its Xbox Followers

The software giant Microsoft Corporation is looking forward to provide attractive discount to its Xbox platform users.

Multinational giant and software house, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) recently released Deals with Gold for its die-hard Xbox followers this week. These deals would reportedly provide concessions and discounts for its Xbox gamers, and to avail this opportunity, the Xbox platform users don’t necessarily need to have their Xbox Live Gold Membership to be active.

The company’s Gold program will provide huge titles, such as AAA titles, at amazing discounts, which is expected to be a part of company’s strategy to offer better worth for money to its Xbox platform users. It would allow the users to upgrade their game collections too, such as “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”, being made available at 30% discount for Xbox One users.

Along with this, Ubisoft Entertainment’s “Assasin Creed IV: Black Flag” is available for the gamers at half of its market price, along with a 50% discount on its standalone downloadable content “Assasin Creed: Freedom Cry”, all for Xbox One users.

According to the latest Microsoft news, the company has managed to execute its tradition in a successful manner for its Xbox 360 users too, by releasing a list of games available at discount rates.  Ubisoft influences the list with the inclusion of the much renown  “Assassin’s Creed Procession” along with “Assasin Creed III”. Moreover the elaborate list also includes Rayman series and “Assasin’s Creed Rogue” up for sale, ranging from a rate of 50% to 75% discounts.

Apart from rest of discounted  games for the Xbox 360 which consists of  Bully:Scholarship Edition, is present in an improved version for Play Station 2 . L.A. Noire made the passage with some Rockstar games alongwith Max Payne 3, Midnight Club L.A. and the stunning Red Dead Redemption. All these master pieces or Rockstar titles are available in the market with a concession of 75% on deal.

Xbox 360 current sales’ also features Activision Blizzard’s “Call for Duty: Black Ops II” and “Call of Duty: Ghosts”, both of the games can be purchased with the discount of 67% on retail price. The list also includes “Advanced Warfare” in line for half cost discounts. Customers can by these discounted offer games online from Microsoft store .

Like before, these games are accessible through the Xbox Live storefront. The discounted offer is valid for the week only- that is from the 1^st of September till 8^th of September, so it’s a great opportunity to avail for the game lovers all over the world, according to recent Microsoft news updates.

 

 

 

Microsoft Windows 10 Hacked To Support Google Play

Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile to be launched soon

Microsoft Windows 10 has been in the limelight since the time it has been launched. But according to a recent breakthrough, Mr. Karov_mm, a polish hacker has been successful in loading the Google Play store on its Windows 10 supported smartphone. Earlier a project namely “Project Astoria” came into existence according to which Android apps will be supported on Windows 10 smartphones. This project could have a great breakthrough for Windows users but to have the entire Google Play store on your phone is an achievement in itself, according to recent Microsoft reports.

Microsoft Corporation is said to be currently working on its operating system Windows 10 Mobile. The company is satisfied with the launch of the PC version of this OS and now wishes to bring it to smartphones and other devices. If they succeed in doing so, then Microsoft can actually give a tough time to the duopoly of Google’s Android and apple’s iPhone in the smartphone market. With the market presence and hype That Microsoft Windows 10 has created, many believe that this OS might become the next force to reckon. However, the only thing Microsoft needs to be worried about at this point of time is to come up with more apps, than what apple and Google currently offer on their app store.

In the past, hackers had been successful in side loading Google Play Services Android packages on Windows platform but the permission barriers resulted in their failure, according to Microsoft updates.

Karov_mm on the other hand was successful in avoiding qualms revolving around permissions when he was loading the Android files by making use of shell. Apart from that, he also uploaded the screenshots on which the Google Play Store has been running smoothly on Windows OS.

So if hackers get successful in coming up with hacks for Windows 10 Mobile, then it is likely that the entire ecosystem of Google will be available on Windows, according to latest Microsoft news.  However, those interested should take note now since Windows 10 Mobile that support Android APKs can actually cause harm to the device. In such a scenario, Microsoft will not be able to protect the devices so the best thing to do at this point of time is to wait.

Hence in a nutshell, Microsoft Windows 10 has gained immense traction before its launch. The idea of Google Play Store on Windows is catchy but precautions need to be taken in order to ensure that the devices are not damaged.

 

Is Microsoft Edge Going To Be Better Than Chrome?

 

The software giant is going to launch an all new browser along with the launch of the much anticipated Windows 10

Microsoft Corporation has always been under the eyes of critics for the inefficiency that its sole browser Internet Explorer has always shown and how it was probably the lowest one too, which made it all too bad reputed to be used by the masses. While this was going on, Google Inc took the lead and made sure it did not disappoint the users by giving in an easy to use browser which helped them for everyday browsing without any hassles.

The analysts and critics in the tech industry have also been surprised how the software giant does not pay much attention to the criticism being thrown at them which has made the users stray even more way from it, to other browsers which was faster and easier to use.

At times when Microsoft put in an effort to bring a change in its browser, it was usually either gone unnoticed or deliberately ignored by the users as they are now used to a much better technology provided to them by different tech and software giants and they just cannot settle for less. The software firm had it in its mind to bring about a change in the users’ attitude by launching something entirely differently and more importantly, it needed to launch a new product as the old one was not appreciated by the users at all. So make that happen, the software business has decided to launch Microsoft Edge browser which will be a completely new step into the browser business, which will be released with the new Windows 10.

Some of the things that need to be taken into consideration are the fact that Microsoft business will be releasing the Edge browser with much better features to offer as compared to the previous browser made by the company. This browser will not only be faster, it will also be of a higher standard than what the general user is now used to. Furthermore, the limited security issue has also been solved by the giant.

Currently, Microsoft’s competing with Google’s Chrome which is the most used browser of its kind as compared to others like Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera, according to latest Microsoft news. All these browsers have had a tough time making their space in the industry due to the continued pressure and better features offered to the public by the Chrome.

However, this browser has also been facing a couple of issues for some time now which include the higher rate of battery getting drained in comparison to other software systems, as reported by Microsoft updates. Also, there have also been some memory loss and leak problems that the browser has faced which means the Edge browser has a chance to take a lead in the industry if everything goes according to plan.

 

Gaming To Be A Game Changer For Microsoft In The Future

Satya Nadella is optimistic about the future of the company’s gaming division.

An Email has been retrieved by GeekWire in which the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation Mr. Satya Nadella considers gaming to be the core area for growth in the times to come, according to latest Microsoft news.

The email has been circulated by Mr. Satya Nadella himself to almost all the Microsoft employees which clearly highlights the vision for Microsoft in the times to come. The company at this point requires a sound strategy that will help them to sustain in the industry. Moreover, he has also highlighted a new strategy with a diversified mission statement according to which “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”

He further mentioned that the company has three key ambitions that are closely linked to one another which are “Reinvent productivity and business processes, Build the intelligent cloud platform, Create more personal computing” where the third factor revolves around the gaming business.

Microsoft products will not stop its efforts to focus on gaming and will also streamline its efforts in a manner that will be followed in the months to come. He highlighted the strategy in an email stating, “We will bring together Xbox Live and our first-party gaming efforts across PC, console, mobile and new categories like HoloLens into one integrated play.”

Microsoft has not been doing quite well when it comes to their gaming business and as rumors suggests, initially they were also determined to sell their Xbox gaming division. However, they did not really reach that phase luckily. Moreover, they were not even doing well in terms of providing support to their personal computer division, as reported by latest Microsoft updates.

At this point, things are relatively far more stable where they have spent a substantial amount to bolster their mobile gaming platform. However, Xbox and PC are the top most priority of the company. The company is also keen to launch its augmented reality based device HoloLens and will be launched soon. The device will be another milestone as it will be able to integrate PC and Xbox through their operating system Windows 10.

MSFT at this point has more components to experiment with when than its rival Sony Corp, Nintendo or other gaming companies. The company recently conducted it annual conference known as Electronic Entertainment Expo where the potential of the company’s gaming business was highlighted. This has also helped them to restore their position in the industry and is likely to benefit them in the long run.

If the company follows the same trajectory then the future will be relatively stable for them.