Microsoft Posts $2.7B Profit For First Fiscal Quarter Of 2003

Net income for the quarter was $2.73 billion, and earnings per share was 50 cents, including an after-tax charge of $291 million for investment impairments. That compares with net income of $1.28 billion and earnings per share of 23 cents for the same quarter a year ago, in which Microsoft suffered a $1.22 billion investment impairment.

Microsoft issued the earnings report late Thursday afternoon and will detail its quarter during a conference call later.

Microsoft attributed much of its revenue growth to Windows XP, which drove client revenue growth by 33 percent, and Office XP. Business versions of Windows XP and Windows 2000 Pro now account for 63 percent of all operating system sales, Microsoft said.

During the quarter, Microsoft's information workers division grew its revenue 26 percent based on customer adoption of Office XP through multiyear licensing deals. Microsoft cut deals with Chevron, Texaco, MetLife and Lockheed Martin.

During the quarter, Microsoft's server platforms division grew 14 percent based on Windows 2000 and SQL Server 2000. SQL Server Enterprise Edition posted revenue growth of 51 percent during the quarter.

Stay tuned for more details.