Microsoft posts record profits
Profit in the quarter ending March 31 was $4.43bn, or 50 cents per share, compared with 29c per share, or $2.98bn, in the same period in 2006.
The Redmond, Washington-based software colossus credited the success of its globally-promoted new Vista operating system and related software for what it declared a record-breaking quarter.
Revenues at the world’s largest software company tallied $14.4bn in the quarter compared with $10.9bn during the same three months last year.
US sales of computers carrying Microsoft’s new operating system Vista leapt 67% in the week after it was launched on January 30, defying the expectations of analysts who gave Vista lacklustre reviews.
Adding to the achievement was the fact that computer sales are usually sluggish in late January and early February.
Microsoft spent five years and $6bn creating Vista as the successor to its Windows XP operating system.
The software powerhouse has touted Vista worldwide as its most secure and thoroughly-tested operating system release.
The release was repeatedly delayed, prompting computer pricing deals and discounts to appeal to customers in the notoriously slow sales period following the year-end holiday shopping season.
Critics maintain that Vista’s complexity forces aspiring users to upgrade computers to meet memory and graphics demands. Computer game developers have complained Vista’s security features can block or break their software.
Approximately 95% of the 900 million computers in the world run on Windows operating systems.
Microsoft forecast that its revenue for the current quarter, the last of the firm’s fiscal year, will be $13.1bn to $13.4bn and its profit will be from 37c to 39c per share.
Microsoft expected to finish the fiscal year with total revenues of $56.5bn to $57.5bn and per-share profit of $1.68 to $1.72. Microsoft’s stock price rose less than a percent in trading that followed release of the earnings figures after the market’s close.
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