Fresh news out of Redmond. Software giant Microsoft has just posted earnings for Q1 of their fiscal year 2011, and the vitals all look good as Microsoft raked in $16.2 billion in revenues; a 25% increase from the same period in 2010. The company posted a net income of $5.41 billion which translated into $0.62 earnings per share; a 51% and 55% increase respectively when compared with Q1 of fiscal year 2010.
“This was an exceptional quarter, combining solid enterprise growth and continued strong consumer demand for Office 2010, Windows 7, and Xbox 360 consoles and games,” said Peter Klein, Microsoft’s CFO. “Our ability to grow revenue while continuing to control costs allowed us to deliver another quarter of year-over-year margin expansion.”
Although inconsequential on the balance sheet, this quarter did mark the first time in fifteen years that Cupertino, CA based Apple, Inc. outperformed Microsoft in revenue; Apple reported $20.34 billion in revenues during the same period. Regardless, Microsoft still — through its focus on highly profitable software (not hardware) — did generate more profit than the iPhone maker… and paid its shareholders a dividend.
