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Profits up at Microsoft, helped by sales of Office and Xbox

Trevor Mogg
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microsoftMicrosoft has announced record revenue of $17.37 billion for the quarter ending June 30, 2011 – 8 percent up on the same period last year. Profits increased by 30 percent on the same quarter a year ago, totaling $5.87 billion.

Annual revenue hit $69.94 billion, marking a 12 percent increase on the previous year. The mostly impressive figures were helped by strong sales of the computer giant’s Office software, together with sales of its Xbox 360 game console.

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“Throughout fiscal 2011, we delivered to market a strong lineup of products and services which translated into double-digit revenue growth, and operating margin expansion,” chief financial officer Peter Klein said in a press release issued Thursday, adding: “Our platform and cloud investments position us for long-term growth.”

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Results for the business division of the company, which includes Office 2010, showed revenue for the fourth quarter growing by 7 percent, and by 16 percent for the full year. The Seattle-based company said that Office 2010 is still the biggest-selling version of Microsoft Office in history, with over 100 million licenses sold so far.

Even more remarkable was the performance of Microsoft’s entertainment division – that saw revenue grow 30 percent for the fourth quarter, and 45 percent for the full year. “Xbox 360 has been the top-selling game console in the U.S. over the past twelve months,” Microsoft said in the press release.

But the news wasn’t all sweetness and light – results for the Windows division, which includes the Windows 7 OS, showed that revenue declined 1 percent for the fourth quarter, and 2 percent for the full year – likely the result of strong tablet sales impacting on those of personal computers that use the operating system.

In the press release, chief operating office Kevin Turner commented on the healthy financial results: “A strong year of double-digit increases in revenue and earnings is a real credit to all of our Microsoft employees and partners around the world.”

He added: “We continue to see strong business demand across all of our products, from small businesses all the way up to the largest global enterprises.”

The news comes in the same week that rival Apple also posted excellent results, coming largely off the back of strong sales of the company’s iPhone and iPad devices.

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Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
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