Microsoft reported a quarterly profit and revenue that soared as compared to last year profits. This was a result of the sales of the company’s latest operating system, Windows 7. The news came as a boost for the software giants whose stock rose about 0.6% in the after hours trading, after it had slided 2% during the regular trading hours.
Microsoft reported that its profits climbed to $6.7 billion, or 74 cents per share which is 60% from the last year. The company broke the trend of three quarters’ declining sales amounting to a record $19 billion. This was a really good result from Microsoft. There was confusion over the earnings which consolidated the effects of deferred revenue from sales of Windows 7 and its free upgrade. This deferred revenue was around $1.7 billion. Excluding this revenue the profit was 60 cents per share.
The main driving force behind this profit was the historic sales of Windows 7. Microsoft said that it sold more than 60 million licenses for Windows 7 and due to this the PC sales grew 15.2% in last quarter. There were profits reported in other divisions but that came at the expense of cost-cutting measures. Revenues from Xbox 360 and Zune HD, fell 11% but the profits almost tripled.
Microsoft’s server unit revenue went up by 2%, while profits climbed 8%. Chowdhry said that as the new products will be introduced the upward trend of the company will continue. Microsoft’s online services MSN and Bing failed to make a profit loosing $466 million.
Chowdhry said that it will take some time for improvement in the online sector and the company was focusing on the operating systems and tools.
