Microsoft, Vodafone, Apple: Tech Premarket

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Microsoft (MSFT) was a big loser in premarket trading on Tuesday after the software maker announced the departure of Windows and Windows Live President Steve Sinofsky.

Julie Larson-Green will be promoted to lead all Windows software and hardware engineering, according to a statement released late on Monday by the tech behemoth. Microsoft CFO and CMO Tami Reller will retain her existing roles, but assume responsibility for the business of Windows.

Investors were unimpressed by the news, which came hot on the heels of comments from CEO Steve Ballmer about the 'modest' debut of the company's new Surface tablets. Microsoft shares dipped 2.97% to $27.16 in premarket trading on Tuesday. The software giant was also the most active premarket Nasdaq stocks on share volume of 1,731,582.

Vodafone (VOD) shares tumbled 3.9% to $25.36 after the British telecom giant announced results for the six months ended Sept. 30, taking 5.9 billion pounds ($9.38 billion) of impairments for its operations in Spain and Italy. The company cited "challenging market conditions and changes to discount rates" for the write-down in a statement released early on Tuesday.

Vodafone reported a loss of 1.89 billion pounds ($3 billion) for the period.

Late on Monday, Verizon Wireless, the joint venture of Verizon Communications (VZ) and Vodafone, announced an $8.5 billion dividend to its co-owners, which will be paid by year-end. Vodafone own 45% of Verizon Wireless, and will collect just over $3.8 billion from the distribution, with Verizon Communications taking the remainder.

Verizon Communications shares rose 0.94% to $42.96 in premarket trading.

Facebook (FB) was a loser before market open, slipping 1.35% to $19.8.

Shares of Apple (AAPL), which recently came to terms with Taiwanese handset maker HTC over patent litigation, dipped 0.42% to $540.55 before market open.

Cisco (CSCO), which reports its fiscal first-quarter results after market close, was flat at $16.85.

TheStreet will be live-blogging Cisco's results, starting at 3:45 p.m. EST.

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

Follow @jamesjrogers

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