Microsoft announced much better than expected results–led by strong Windows and Xbox demand and cost discipline.
Here are Microsoft’s slides on the financial results, which you can enjoy all weekend long (if you have no life, it goes without saying).
Well, well, well, that financial imp at Microsoft–CFO Chris Liddell–pulled a fast one on Wall Street and turned in first-quarter earnings that blew away all estimates and even whisper numbers.
BoomTown liveblogged the morning conference call, which took place at 7:30 am PT–thanks for the Kiwi-laced wake-up call, Chris!
While revenue and net income in Q1 were down significantly from the same period a year ago, they were not as bad as investors expected.
Which apparently passes for terrific these days!
Yahoo and Microsoft are still seriously talking about a search and partnership deal, never-ending discussions that might or might not come to fruition. But most investors will be focused on real results this week, as both tech giants report quarterly earnings.
Yahoo reports tomorrow, while Microsoft clocks in Thursday.
But, after a ho-hum performance last week from Google, Wall Street is not expecting much from either, as the econalypse continues to take its toll on financial performance.
After running one of the more successful Silicon Valley acquisitions by Microsoft for several years, Tellme Networks founder and GM Mike McCue will be leaving the company at the end of June.
As part of the transition, Zig Serafin, who has been running a lot of the speech technology efforts for the software giant in Redmond, Wash., is taking over the voice services subsidiary and all the other related units and making them into a single team with about 400 employees in total.
McCue and Serafin are now meeting with Tellme staff at its Mountain View HQ about the changeover.
Tellme, the voice services subsidiary of Microsoft, is announcing “one-button” voice access for Windows-enabled mobile phones, as well as some new technologies to improve call automation for customer service centers.
Aiming at smartphone users who might prefer to use voice commands over the Apple iPhone’s popular touch, tap and swoosh features, Microsoft is trying to differentiate its mobile offerings.
Well, despite the news being as bad at Microsoft as it was at Yahoo earlier this week, the conference call after the software giant released its third-quarter earnings was 100 percent less naughty and 200 percent more glum.
In other words, while there were no F-bombs dropped, there were lots of E-bombs–as in econalypse.
Here’s BoomTown’s liveblogging of the call–featuring the software giant’s semi-apocalyptic CFO, Chris Liddell.
Microsoft’s earnings and revenue took a hit in its third quarter, as expected, with profits down 32 percent from a year ago on a six percent sales decline.
Before one-time charges, the software giant earned $2.98 billion, or 33 cents a share after one-time charges, on revenue of $13.65 billion.
The weak results were relatively in line with analysts’ estimates of 39 cents a share on $14.1 billion in revenue.
The culprit for the bad news was the decline in consumer and business spending on computers since half Microsoft’s operating income comes from sales of its Windows operating system.
Displaying BoomTown’s advanced age and elephantine cache of meaningless tech memories, after news yesterday that the software giant was plunging into the retail market, I was surprised to find little mention that Microsoft’s last store effort had ended in failure in 2001.
That’s not to say it’s a particularly good or bad idea to hire a former Dreamworks and Wal-Mart exec named David Porter as vice president of retail stores to create Microsoft-branded stores–or as the company announced yesterday, “to create a better PC and Microsoft retail purchase experience.”
Just as long as the Zunes go on the back shelf!
Microsoft said its financial performance took a major hit, with revenue up only two percent and net income down 11 percent, whiffing badly on Wall Street’s expectations. In addition, the software giant said that it would cut 5,000 jobs and other costs across many divisions over the next 18 months, starting with 1,400 today, pegging operating cost savings at $1.5 billion annually. Perhaps most ominously, Microsoft said it would not give profit and revenue guidance for the rest of the year because of the economy’s turmoil. Apparently, even the smartest of techies have little insight to this very foggy financial situation.
Besides getting, well, the whole country to run today, President Barack Obama is now taking a geek-tastic new ride down Pennsylvania Avenue to his new home, which should more than satisfy his clearly gadget-loving persona.
Say hello to the spanking new Presidential limo, which the Secret Service is calling the “Beast.”
The last time General Motors improved on the car was at outgoing President George W. Bush’s 2005 inauguration, which means the struggling automaker is faster at upgrading than Microsoft is with Windows!
In the wake of the changes at Microsoft’s online division, a senior ad sales exec, Bill Shaughnessy, is set to leave his post, the company confirmed. The departure was first reported in Ad Age, which said Shaughnessy’s future plans were undetermined and, in fact, noted it was unclear why the longtime Microsoft staffer of 15 years was leaving. Here’s why: Consolidation.
With all the information Microsoft is releasing at its launchtastic Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles this week, CEO Steve Ballmer sent out a honking long letter to customers who have opted into the software giant’s “Executive Email” program (who knew?).
Along with the Azure–at long last, a lovely and apt brand name from Microsoft–cloud services offering, the letter also outlines the inevitable and unavoidable path for the company, which has long struggled in getting its digital strategy right.
While the very quirky ads rolled out by Microsoft to tout itself, starring Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld, got a ton of hype, it turns out there will be no more than than three already released.
It seems the churros have gone cold.
According to a Microsoft spokesman, the ads were apparently just a warmup for more to come, as early as tomorrow, and though the new ones will not use Seinfeld in any significant way, they might still feature Gates.
We’re posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.
Unfortunately, due to issues too complicated to go into, we have to post all the D6 interviews in several 15-minute parts (I know, I know).
But–as many readers have requested–they will all be available in their entirety in this column.
In the less contentious spirit of DEMOfall and TechCrunch50, two demo conferences taking place simultaneously this week, we’re happy to bring you all the demos we had onstage at the D6 conference.
First up is TransMedia’s Glide, an operating system that cuts across all operating systems.
There will be a lot of different reactions to the first of Microsoft’s newest series of commercials, featuring Founder Bill Gates playing straight man to comic Jerry Seinfeld.
Set up as a discount shoe-buying skit, Seinfeld helps Gates purchase a pair called “The Conquistador,” and for some Seinfeldesque reason, it’s churros all around in this marketing effort.
What might be more effective, of course, at least in the Internet arena, is for Microsoft to get off the stick and lay out its next Web strategy clearly, especially in the wake of its failed attempt to acquire Yahoo, and name the digital chief it said it planned to.
Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
Don't miss a post! Sign up for our Daily Email and get AllThingsD.com delivered each day.
Get columns, blogs and video from D and All Things Digital on your iPhone. Download now »
