Microsoft Adopts Website Release for Earnings

Another company is taking its earnings straight to the Web. Microsoft published its fiscal first-quarter earnings exclusively on its website, joining a small but growing number of U.S. companies that are skipping the tried-and-true method of announcing financial news via press releases. Google, Expedia and BGC Partners have already adopted the practice. The move extends Internet technology's slow erosion of the market for traditional means of disclosing financial information. If it continues to spread, Web disclosure could eventually cut press-release distributors like PR Newswire and Business Wire out of the loop. Critics worry Web-based disclosure puts small investors at a disadvantage. Microsoft, however, reckons that sending shareholders, analysts and reporters directly to its investor Web page exposes them to more information than could fit in a single earnings document, allowing them to make more thorough evaluations of its business.