Welcome!

Java Authors: App Man, Liz McMillan, Jeremy Geelan, Yakov Fain, Hari Gottipati

Related Topics: .NET, Search

.NET: Article

Google Hasn't Put Microsoft Out of Business Yet

Mister Softee Proves It's Still the Old Money Machine

Well, Google hasn’t put Microsoft out of business yet. Redmond is still a money machine.
 
It posted record profits up 65% to $4.93 billion, or 50 cents a share, Thursday on revenues up 32% to $14 billion for the March quarter, its might-as-well-call-it Vista quarter when the software finally came out.
 
Microsoft’s operating profits came to a staggering $6.59 billion. The numbers beat the Street.
 
Contrary to all the badmouthing of Vista, it seems to be delivering for Microsoft. Now if only its stock would stop being a dog.
 
Microsoft said the results reflected $1.67 billion in revenue and operating income and $1.41 billion, 12 cents a share, in net income that were deferred because of its coupons programs for Vista and Office 2007 instituted after the software slipped into January – okay, way into January – to get them to buy PCs during the holidays and then upgrade.
 
Without the deferrals, revenues would have only been up 17%.
 
Microsoft is now in its fourth fiscal quarter and said it expected revenue to be $13.1 billion-$13.4 billion with an operating income of $5 billion- $5.2 billion and earnings of 37 cents-39 cents. Microsoft of course is notoriously conservative.
 
Next year it expects revenues of $56.5 billion-$57.5 billion, an operating income of $22 billion-$22.5 billion and earnings of 1.68-$1.72. That’s a $5.5 billion increase (11%-12%) in revenue, which as it reminded analysts during its conference call is the size of many a substantial company.
 
In the March quarter, its Windows business was up 67% to $5.3 billion, realizing a $4.2 billion operating profit, and servers and tools less handsomely – only 15% – to $2.7 billion and returning $979 million.
 
Vista is supposed to have beat Microsoft’s own forecast by $300 million- $400 million and Office by $200 million.
 
Microsoft’s poor benighted online business, its suffering rival to Google et al, did $623 million, up 11%, losing $200, up from a operating loss of only $20 million. Microsoft’s online ad sales were up 23% year-over-year, it said. It’s monetizing more than in the days when it was going through Overture, By comparison Google just did $2.53 billion, up 66%.
 
Its so-called Business Division did $4.8 billion, returning an operating profit of $3.4 billion, and entertainment and devices, stuff like xBox and Zune, down 21% year-over-year from $1.2 billion to $929 million lost $315 million, down from a loss of $402 million
 
Microsoft said growth is coming from emerging markets and the consumer.

More Stories By .NETDJ News Desk

.NETDJ News Desk monitors Microsoft .NET and its related technologies, including Silverlight, to present IT professionals with news, updates on technology advances, business trends, new products and standards, and insight.

Comments (1) View Comments

Share your thoughts on this story.

Add your comment
You must be signed in to add a comment. Sign-in | Register

In accordance with our Comment Policy, we encourage comments that are on topic, relevant and to-the-point. We will remove comments that include profanity, personal attacks, racial slurs, threats of violence, or other inappropriate material that violates our Terms and Conditions, and will block users who make repeated violations. We ask all readers to expect diversity of opinion and to treat one another with dignity and respect.


Most Recent Comments
.NET News 05/01/07 03:41:32 PM EDT

Well, Google hasn't put Microsoft out of business yet. Redmond is still a money machine. It posted record profits up 65% to $4.93 billion, or 50 cents a share, Thursday on revenues up 32% to $14 billion for the March quarter, its might-as-well-call-it Vista quarter when the software finally came out. Microsoft's operating profits came to a staggering $6.59 billion. The numbers beat the Street.