Microsoft expects $800 million impairment charge in Q2 2025 over General Motors' Cruise exit

FILE PHOTO: A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

(Reuters) - Microsoft expects to record an impairment charge of around $800 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025 over General Motors' exit of the Cruise autonomous driving business, the tech giant said in a filing on Wednesday.

General Motors said on Tuesday it is ending robotaxi development, in which it invested more than $10 billion since 2016, citing competition in the robotaxi market and the "time and resources" that would be needed to scale the business.

Microsoft acquired a minority stake in Cruise in January 2021 in a combined new equity investment of more than $2 billion, which included institutional investors such as Honda Motor Co.

The Windows maker also said the impairment charge would have a negative impact of about 9 cents on its second-quarter earnings per share.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)