Microsoft Posts Quarterly Report
Microsoft has reported it's Third Quarter results for the period ending March 31, 2009. The report shows a 6% decline in revenue from the same period last year. While a reported revenue of $13.65 billion isn't too shabby, it's the first year to year loss decline in Microsoft's 34 year history. The report included a $290 million cost for severance charges related to the plan to reduce up to 5,000 positions at Microsoft and $420 million needed to offset impairments to investments.
According to the release from Microsoft, Revenue in Client, Microsoft Business Division, and Server & Tools was negatively impacted by weakness in the global PC and Server markets. Revenue from enterprise customers remained stable during the quarter. Despite the loss, Microsoft didn't seem too concerned. “With our continued R&D investment and our broad suite of products and services, we remain in a great position to compete and gain share in the marketplace,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft.
While the Global Economy had it's hand in why the declined occurred, lagging sales in laptops, the rise in popularity of "netbooks" and the investment losses helped as well. The Server and Tools Division was the only group to show growth in the report (about $230 million) and XBox 360 sales increased about 30%, putting the gaming system well ahead of last years total sales figures. So it's not all bad news.
Microsoft is still on track to release Windows Mobile 6.5 later this year and Windows 7 during fiscal year 2010 and those releases might be the boost Microsoft is hoping for. Microsoft's full release and report can be found here.
