Executives at Microsoft following the fourth quarter earnings report on Thursday have stated that the company has come out solid during tough economic situations and that the figures are suggestive of growth in new markets. During a conference call to discuss the results, Microsoft’s Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said that he was pleased with the initial quarter performance and that they have managed to deliver strongly in the PC market while the thrust of their sales was centered on the Xbox 360 and associated entertainment services.
When compared to 2010’s second fiscal quarter, the final quarter revenue which ended on the 31st of December was up by about 5 percent and hit $20.89 billion. The net income for the quarter was recorded at $6.62 billion which translates to about $0.78 per share. Thomson Reuters financial analysts had earlier polled that Microsoft’s earning per share would be $0.76 per share, which the company has managed to exceed. However, analysts had predicted quarter revenue to hit $20.93 billion, which the company missed by a miniscule margin.
The Business Division of the company generated $6.28 billion in revenue, a rise of 3 percent over last year. The revenue from Lync and Dynamics CRM grew by more than 30 percent while the revenue from Exchange and SharePoint grew by about 10 percent. The Entertainment and Devices Division saw a rise in revenue of 15 percent, reaching $4.24 billion while a 10 percent rise was seen in the Online Services Division, whose revenue shot up to $780 million. Xbox Live memberships have reached 40 million, growing by about 33 percent. The growth in Xbox Live membership is attributed to the 18 million Kinect sensors and 66 million Xbox 360 consoles currently out in the market.
Since its launch, more than 525 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold, grossing $4.74 billion in 2011, which is a combined figure for the Windows and Windows Live Division. However, the combined revenue for this division has shrunk by 6 percent. Klein, however, played up the enterprise segment results and said that the enterprise market for Windows was stronger than ever with as many as one in every three enterprise desktops around the world running on Windows. However, PC sales to consumers have not seen the same stability observed over past years spurt with declining Windows sales. The company remains optimistic about 2012 with a number of releases lined up, like System Center 2012, SQL Server 2012 and Windows 8.