Summary: A win on the bottom line and a tiny ding on the top line. While Microsoft touted its Business unit as the division that carried the quarter, the company stayed mum on Windows sales.
By Zack Whittaker for Between the Lines | April 18, 2013 -- 21:07 GMT (14:07 PDT)
In spite of declining PC sales and cautious chipmakers, Microsoft fared well in the third quarter.
The software giant reported third quarter revenue of $20.49 billion or 72 cents a share, missing analyst expectations on revenue by a fraction. Operating income was $7.61 billion while net income stood at $6.06 billion.
Wall Street expected Microsoft to report third quarter earnings of 68 cents a share on revenue of $20.5 billion.
It's a bottom-line win, and a top-line loss.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said he was "optimistic" that all the bets the company has made on Windows devices will "position us well for the long-term." But the company couldn't escape a massive $733 million fine imposed by the European Commission for falling to maintain its antitrust commitments.
He noted in his prepared remarks that there is "there is still work to do," noting Microsoft services Azure, Xbox and Windows Live, but didn't mention Windows 8.
The company also announced that its chief financial officer, Peter Klein, will leave the company at the end of the coming fourth quarter. A new CFO will replace Klein in "the next several weeks."
Microsoft said its Windows Division posted revenue of $5.70 billion, a 23 percent increase on the same quarter a year ago.
It's surprising considering the death throes warning over PC sales at the moment. No word on Windows 8 sales yet — or Surface sales for that matter — but it with revenue up by nearly one-quarter it can't be doing too badly. At the last count in early January, Microsoft had sold 60 million licenses.
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