Microsoft to Close Retail Stores Permanently in Digital Bet
- Company will take a pretax charge of $450 million, or 5 cents
- Microsoft began opening the stores in 2009 to showcase wares
Surface laptops sit on display in a Microsoft store in central London in 2019.
Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Microsoft Corp. said it will close its physical store locations permanently but will continue to invest in a digital storefront that, along with third-party retailers, has driven sales of products such as the Xbox game player and Surface tablets.
The move will result in a pretax charge of about $450 million, or 5 cents a share, in the current quarter, Microsoft said Friday in a statement.