IBM Corp lost nearly a billion dollars on a pre-tax basis last year selling personal computers as the market moved drastically toward the low end and pricing pressures hit most vendors hard. According to the company’s annual report, the IBM PC unit posted a pre-tax loss of $992m due to price cuts, representing a massive increase from a loss of $161m in 1997. Overall PC revenue fell 11% to $12.8bn from $14.4bn last year. Price cuts, led mostly by Compaq Computer Corp, forced most of its rivals to follow suit and the resulting environment lasted for the majority of the year. IBM says that towards the end of the year the pressure eased, however, and the PC business showed a profit in the fourth quarter.
