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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Breaking News -
General:
Microsoft Reports First Quarter
Earnings
Microsoft Corp announced revenue of $8.22 billion for the quarter ended
Sept.
30, a six percent increase over $7.75 billion in the prior year. Operating
income for the first quarter was $3.15 billion, compared to $3.03 billion
reported in the prior year. Net income and diluted earnings per share for the
first quarter of fiscal year 2004 were $2.61 billion and 24 cents, which
included equity compensation expense of approximately $680 million (after-tax)
or 6 cents per share. For the previous year, net income and diluted earnings
per share were $2.04 billion and 19 cents, which included a charge for
investment impairments of $291 million (after-tax) or 3 cents per share and
equity compensation expense of approximately $702 million (after-tax) or 6
cents per share. Prior year operating income, net income, and earnings per
share have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the adoption of fair value
expense accounting for equity based compensation under SFAS 123.
"While corporate IT spending was slow to improve this quarter, we saw
strength
across all of our consumer businesses, driving higher than expected revenue
for the company," said John Connors, chief financial officer at Microsoft.
"Delivering value to our customers with innovative software like the new
Office System, Exchange Server 2003, and Small Business Server and executing
on our plan to better help protect customers from a growing number of security
attacks are our top priorities for the rest of the year."
Robust consumer demand for PCs during the back to school shopping season
fueled better than expected Client revenue during the quarter. In addition,
MSN had another strong quarter with over 50 percent advertising revenue
growth, and Home and Entertainment revenue grew by 20 percent, driven by the
successful launch of the Xbox holiday offering. Mobile and Embedded Devices
also demonstrated momentum this quarter with revenue growing to $53 million on
strong results from our Windows Mobile, MapPoint, and Windows Embedded
products. Additionally, this week AT&T Wireless announced the availability of
the Motorola MPx200, the first Windows Mobile-based Smartphone in North
America.
Server and Tools grew a solid 15 percent over last year to $1.87 billion
this
quarter. Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange all
experienced double digit revenue growth, driven by a growing number of
customers acquiring high-end enterprise editions. Windows Server 2003 has sold
over two times as many licenses as Windows 2000 Server over the same period of
time since launch. In addition, with over 120 million seats sold worldwide,
Exchange continues to be a leading messaging solution for companies.
This week, Microsoft launched the new Office System, with a pioneering new
version of Outlook, built-in XML capabilities and several new applications
including Microsoft Office InfoPath, Microsoft Office OneNote, and Microsoft
Office Live Communications Server.
"The new Microsoft Office System presents a clear opportunity for both
small
and large organizations to increase employee productivity and the value of
business information. In addition, by introducing new editions of Office such
as the Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003 and Microsoft Office
Student & Teacher Edition 2003, we are answering customers' requests for
products customized specifically for their needs," said Jeff Raikes, group
vice president of Productivity and Business Services. Customers acquiring
Office during the quarter included Accenture, Ace Hardware Corp and Gold Kist
Inc.
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