Apple Posts $161 Million Fourth Quarter Loss -- Last week, Apple posted its fourth quarter results, which included a $161 million net loss. For the year, Apple's revenues totaled $7.1 billion, down 28 percent from $9.8 billion in 1996. The net loss for 1997 reached $1.0 billion, compared to an $816 million loss in 1996. Though the $161 million loss is nothing to crow about, without the charges Apple took related to the acquisition of Power Computing's Macintosh assets, it would have been a $24 million loss. Also positive was the reduction in recurring operating expenses to $353 million, down from $408 million in the third quarter of 1997 and $505 million in the fourth quarter of 1996. Helpful were the strong sales of Mac OS 8, which has sold two million copies since its July release. The $1.0 billion net loss for the year is alarming, but remember it contains restructuring charges of $217 million and $450 million in write-offs related to the NeXT and Power Computing acquisitions. Without that $667 million in one-time charges, the 1997 $1.0 billion loss drops to $333 million. [ACE]

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