Microsoft boasts best record profits
LSA King
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Microsoft ended the fiscal year on a strong note, reporting fourth-quarter profits of $4.52 billion, or 51 cents per share on Thursday.
The software maker beat Wall Street estimates, and also announced its best-ever quarterly revenue of $16.04 billion, an increase of 22 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
Wall Street analysts had been expecting Microsoft's revenue to fall somewhere between $14.85 billion and $15.74 billion.
"We saw strong sales execution across all of our businesses, particularly in the enterprise with Windows 7 and Office 2010," Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner said in a statement. "Our transition to cloud services is well under way with offerings like Windows Azure and our Business Productivity Online Services, and we look forward to continuing our product momentum this fall with the upcoming launches of Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Kinect."
It's been a good quarter overall for the tech industry, with Intel reporting its most profitable quarter in its history, and IDC data showing PC shipments up 22 percent.
For the whole year, Microsoft reported record numbers as well: fiscal year 2010 revenue was its best ever at $62.48 billion, a 7 percent rise over 2009, as well as a 29 percent growth in profits, which hit $18.76 billion.
After Apple passed Microsoft in market capitalization earlier this year, analysts had also been expecting Microsoft to fall behind Apple in quarterly revenue for the first time ever. The software maker was able to hold off its rival, besting Apple's $15.7 billion in revenue reported Tuesday.
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20011392-260.html?tag=cnetRiver
Comments
I thought it was to 2020? Either way, that damn OS will never die :facepalm:. The future is being put on hold because of businesses.