Microsoft Reports a Strong Q3 Thanks to Win7, XBL

By Jane McEntegart
published

Microsoft yesterday released details of its revenue for the company's third fiscal quarter. Redmond reported $14.5 billion in revenue and a net income of $4.01 billion or $0.45 per share.

The company said the results don't include the deferral of $305 million of revenue relating to the Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee program. Adjusting for the revenue deferral, third-quarter revenue totaled $14.81 billion, an increase of 8 percent over the prior year period.

Heavily hit by the recession, Microsoft last year recorded the first decline in quarterly revenue in its 23-year history as a public company. Revenues in the fiscal third quarter ended March 31 2009 slipped 6 percent to $13.65 billion from $14.45 billion in the same period the previous year.

Microsoft pointed to Windows 7 as one of the big reasons for the jump.

"Windows 7 continues to be a growth engine, but we also saw strong growth in other areas like Bing search, Xbox LIVE and our emerging cloud services," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. "Our record third-quarter revenue along with continued rigor on cost management resulted in exceptional EPS growth."

Read more from Microsoft here (opens in new tab).

Jane McEntegart
14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ehanger
    microsoft is doomed they havent come out with anything original for the past 15 years
    Reply
  • webbwbb
    You need to keep in mind that Microsoft is the most profitable company in the world. If they were truly doomed then they would not be posting record high revenues. also keep in mind that being number one does tend to cause complacency. If someone else does start pushing ahead of them, they will have quite a lot of time and resources to change things around and get their spot back.
    Reply
  • touchdowntexas13
    ehangermicrosoft is doomed they havent come out with anything original for the past 15 years
    First I would have to disagree about microsoft not coming out with anything original for the past 15 years.

    Second I say that a company doesn't always have to come out with unique or original products/services in order to do well. They just have to have quality products/services at a decent price.

    Microsoft does what it does well. I don't think they are too worried. Especially when somewhere in the ball park of 90% of computer users are using their operating system. I'm just saying...
    Reply
  • phantomtrooper
    Microsoft is not doomed. If Apple began to get more market share they would fade very quickly because everyone in the world cannot be brainwashed by Steve Jobs. The rest of the world would quickly realize how insecure Apples operating system and browser are. This would be especially unacceptable to the business world. Microsoft provides constant updates to their software and thats what keeps most of the world returning again and again to buy Windows.
    Reply
  • Bolbi
    touchdowntexas13First I would have to disagree about microsoft not coming out with anything original for the past 15 years.Second I say that a company doesn't always have to come out with unique or original products/services in order to do well. They just have to have quality products/services at a decent price.Microsoft does what it does well. I don't think they are too worried. Especially when somewhere in the ball park of 90% of computer users are using their operating system. I'm just saying...I agree for the most part, but 90% market share doesn't guarantee anything. Just look at what happened with Internet Explorer. However, I don't think anything like that will happen to Windows as a whole in the near future.
    Reply
  • annymmo
    Wrong PhantomTrooper.
    Compatibility ~ legacy, non-fragmented(I'm looking at you Linux) and familiarity drives Windows in business.
    In ICT or other business where applications are mission critical they use unix. Most of the web servers and worlds most powerful supercomputers use Unix.
    Reply
  • annymmo
    Off course Bing has a strong growth.
    It has been buzzy replacing live search.

    Have expected to see WinDows 7 as a growth engine.
    Reply
  • kingnoobe
    Wheres he wrong at annymmo. He implied OS_X, and since you're on toms I hope you realize windows is as secure/more secure then MAC os, and they do have a huge market share. And a lot of businesses use windows. SO I ask again were is he wrong. He didn't say crap about linux...

    So maybe you read to much into it or simply a MAC fanboy I don't know, but it's been proven by experts which I doubt you are that WIN 7 is just as secure as MAC's os *yes, restated as I felt it was needed
    Reply
  • Go Go Microsoft!!!!

    I love them really, even though most of my working days frustration is down to their OS, they keep the food on the family table....

    Have tried the apple but it was just not as tasty on the inside as the shiny skin led me to believe, felt like I was missing something!
    Reply
  • JohnnyLucky
    I read the full article in the Wall Street Journal. The revenue that MS is able to generate is amazing.
    Reply