Microsoft, Vodafone, Apple: Tech Premarket

Microsoft is a big loser in premarket trading after the software maker announces the departure of Windows chief Steve Sinofsky.
By James Rogers ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) --

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

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) - Get Report

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) - Get Report

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) - Get Report

was a loser before market open, slipping 1.35% to $19.8.

Shares of

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

, which recently

came to terms

with Taiwanese handset maker

HTC

over patent litigation, dipped 0.42% to $540.55 before market open.

Cisco

(CSCO) - Get Report

, 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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