Chris Suh
Analyst · Michael Turits with Raymond James
Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today.
On the call with me today are Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer; Amy Hood, Chief Financial Officer; Frank Brod, Chief Accounting Officer; and John Seethoff, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.
On our website, microsoft.com/investor, you can find our earnings press release and financial summary slide deck, which is intended to supplement our prepared remarks during today's call and provide the reconciliation of differences between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures.
Unless otherwise specified, we will refer to non-GAAP metrics on the call. The non-GAAP financial measures provided should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. They are included as additional clarifying items to aid investors in further understanding the company's fourth quarter performance in addition to the impact that these items and events had on the financial results.
Additionally, any mention of operating expense refers to segment operating expenses as defined in the footnotes of our Form 10-Q, which include research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative, but excludes the impact of integration and restructuring charges.
As a reminder, in May, we announced plans to further streamline the Phone Hardware business. During the fourth quarter, restructuring and related impairment expenses were $1.1 billion. All growth comparisons we make on the call today relate to the corresponding period of last year, unless otherwise noted. We will also provide growth rates in constant currency, when available, as a framework for assessing how our underlying business has performed, excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuation.
At the segment level, we provide constant-currency growth for both revenue and gross margin. However, due to recent changes to our segment reporting groupings, we're not able to provide segment level constant-currency operating expense growth and, consequently, cannot derive constant-currency segment operating income either. We do provide constant-currency operating expense and operating income growth at the company-wide level.
We'll post our prepared remarks on our website immediately following the call until the complete transcript is available. Today's call is being webcast live and recorded. If you ask a question, it will be included in our live transmission, in the transcript and in any future use of the recording. You can replay the call and view the transcript on the Microsoft Investor Relations website until July 19, 2017.
During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements which are predictions, projections or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could materially differ because of factors discussed in today's earnings press release, in the comments made during this conference call and in the Risk Factors section of our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement.
And with that, I'll turn the call over to Satya.