Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Microsoft quarter rescued by Microsoft Office

Xbox and enterprise software saved Microsoft from sluggish PC sales in its third fiscal quarter

Microsoft enjoyed strong income and revenue growth for its third fiscal quarter despite sluggish PC sales, with Xbox and Office doing well, the company reported Thursday.

For the quarter that ended March 31, Microsoft reported net income of $US5.23 billion, up 31 per cent from the same period last year. Third-quarter revenue was $16.43 billion, a jump of 13 per cent. Diluted earnings came in at $0.61 per share, up 36 per cent.

"We delivered strong financial results despite a mixed PC environment, which demonstrates the strength and breadth of our businesses," Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said in a statement.

Overall, Windows 7 revenue shrank by approximately four per cent when compared to the same time last year, from $4.6 billion to $4.4 billion. The company attributed this slackening of demand to sluggish PC sales.

Other business units made up the difference, however. Buoyed by strong Microsoft Office sales, the Microsoft business division generated more revenue than the Windows unit this quarter. It generated $5.2 billion, a jump of 21 per cent from last year's $4.3 billion.

Entertainment and devices division revenue grew by 60 per cent, coming in at $1.9 billion this quarter, up from $1.2 billion a year ago, owing to strong sales of the Xbox, the Xbox live service and the Xbox Kinect controller.

Server and tools division revenue grew by 11 per cent, to $4.1 billion from last year's $3.7 billion, thanks to continued demand for Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2 and other products and services.

Shareholders are receiving a bonus this year of $0.05 per share, thanks to an audit settlement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service that covered the tax years 2004 to 2006.

Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: IDG, Internal Revenue Service, Microsoft, Xbox
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: business issues, financial results, Microsoft
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • No Bull - What Customers Should Expect from Cloud Services
    This paper describes how a cloud Services User achieves the true benefits of cloud services and sends warning messages to the providers, hosting companies and telecommunications firms. It also provides clues on how a customer can gain better value from services offered by the new cloud companies and Hosting businesses.
    Learn more »
  • Why Encrypt? Securing Email without compromising communications.
    Encryption is a vital component of any DLP strategy. It allows businesses to exchange sensitive information without compromising on security; even if data is intercepted, encryption makes it unreadable and renders it tamper-proof. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • Top Reasons to Implement an SOA Governance Strategy: A List for IT Executives
    Service-oriented architecture (SOA) has moved beyond hype to widespread acceptance as an IT strategy for delivering business value. SOA promotes the notion of modularity, providing overwhelming flexibility and superior economics for addressing business demands. However, undertaking the transformation to SOA is not without its challenges. If left unchecked, your inventory of SOA assets will become unmanageable; the reuse of services will diminish in favor of custom development; or even worse, modifications will be made to your existing services that break other business processes. The purpose of SOA governance is to help you ensure that this does not happen. This paper outlines the most compelling reasons for you to establish SOA governance within your organization.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments