Microsoft expects share price drop and a $800 million fine after GM exits robotaxi business

General Motors (GM) announced on Tuesday that it will exited the robotaxis business it has invested more than $10 billion in since 2016, sparking Microsoft to announce it expects an impairment charge of approximately $800 million in the second quarter of next year as a result of the departure.

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According to reports, General Motors will be exiting the robotaxi business, specifically the Cruise autonomous driving company, citing "time and resources" to develop a sufficiently substantial fleet to compete against the already established businesses operating in the robotaxi market. Notably, Microsoft picked up a minority stake in Cruise back in January 2021, amounting to approximately a $2 billion investment that involved institutional investors such as Honda Motor.

General Motors doesn't appear to want to try and compete with robotaxi vendors such as Waymo, Tesla, and Amazon, with the company explaining that Cruise could generate as much as $50 billion in revenue by 2030, but this business arm of GM was expendable, especially considering that it isn't even the company's core business.

"You've got to really understand the cost of running a robotaxi fleet, which is fairly significant, and again, not our core business," said GM CEO Mary Barra on an analyst call

Microsoft anticipates the $800 million impairment charge will cause the company's share price to reduce by approximately 9 cents on its second-quarter earnings.