Microsoft has reported its results for the quarter ending 30th Sept 2009. I’ve got into the habit of making a small table to help make sense of the figures:
Quarter ending Sept 30th 2009 vs quarter ending Sept 30th 2008, $millions
| Segment | Revenue | % change | Profit | % change |
| Client (Windows) | 2620 | -38.8 | 1463 | -52.17 |
| Server and Tools | 3434 | 0.50 | 1283 | 22.89 |
| Online | 490 | –5.80 | -480 | -49.53 |
| Business (Office) | 4404 | -11.1 | 2863 | -11.37 |
| Entertainment and devices | 1891 | -0.11 | 312 | 96.22 |
A quick glance tells you that Windows suffered a sharp decline, though Microsoft says this is because it has deferred $1.47 billion of Windows 7 upgrade revenue, and that adding this back would reduce the decline to 4% year on year.
Note that even with the deferral, Windows is highly profitable.
The star here is server and tools, growing in the downturn and delivering strongly increased profits. I doubt tools counts for much of this; I’m guessing it reflects the positive reception for Server 2008.
Online is as dismal as ever. Clearly the Live properties are still not performing. Presuming Azure is in this category, it’s possible that this will start to turn this round; that is more likely I guess than an improvement in the fortunes of existing products such as Bing.
Office strikes me as pretty good bearing in mind the weak economy and that Microsoft is now talking about Office 2010. Entertainment and devices ticking along but nothing special.
I’m guessing Windows 7 will deliver Microsoft a great next quarter no matter what; but when if ever will it be profitable online?
Disclaimer: I am not a financial analyst, and hold no shares in companies about which I write. Please do not misconstrue this as investment advice; I know nothing about the subject.