Microsoft (MSFT) reported strong results for the September quarter with revenues up 27%. This is the third quarter in a row with revenue growth of 20% or more. Larry Dignan at ZDnet says " Can't we give Microsoft some props?". Paul Graham and others have suggested "Microsoft is Dead" which triggered my reply "Since when does growing $4 Billion a year = dead?".
How about $8 Billion revenue growth? Let me revise that. Microsoft will grow by about $8 Billion this year, from $51B last fiscal year to a projected $59B this year. That is over 15% annual growth on a very large base. Let me put $8B of growth into perspective. Just the growth ($8B) is more than the total revenues of Yahoo (YHOO), and more than Adobe, BEA, Facebook, Youtube, and MySpace combined.
The Big Three - Again this quarter the big three business units contributed most of the revenue and profit. Multiply these numbers by 4 quarters to get an idea of the size of these businesses;
- Windows Client (desktop) $4.1B
- Microsoft Business Division (Office) $4.1B
- Servers & Tools $2.9B
- Entertainment (xBox, Halo) $1.9B
- Online Services $671M
There were several key milestones this quarter. Microsoft acquired aQuantive ($6B) to make a big move into online advertising. Halo 3 had the biggest launch in entertainment history. Microsoft made a $240M investment in Facebook. And, Microsoft Entertainment and Devices division turned a profit this quarter.
Yes, Larry, I think it is OK to give Microsoft some props. TechMeme has a good collection of stories on Microsoft's earnings announcment.
