Microsoft posts over $4 Billion profit in first-quarter
Saturday, 25 October 2008, 17:24 IST
Printer Print Email Email
San Francisco: Microsoft reported its first-quarter results that exceeded analysts' expectations, with profits up two percent to $4.37 billion. Sales rose 9.4 percent to $15.1 billion in the quarter that ended Sep 30, the company said in a statement Thursday, spurred by the demand for Office programmes and the Xbox video game console. The world's largest software maker said sales for the full fiscal year, ending June 30, 2009, would be between $64.9 billion to $66.4 billion. "In a challenging economic environment, the first-quarter results exhibit the strength and diversity of our business model," said Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer. The company plans to save $500 million by slowing down on hiring, travel and marketing, Bloomberg financial news reported. Microsoft can endure an economic slowdown longer than its competitors because it has many clients with long-term contracts. Revenue in the Microsoft Business Division, mainly Office programmes, climbed 20 percent last quarter to $4.95 billion. Xbox sales dipped 6 percent, but this was less than the 26-percent decline the company had forecast.
Source: IANS
siliconindia