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Microsoft Reports Third Quarter Earnings with Improved Business Division Performance

by Jason Gumpert
Editor, MSDynamicsWorld.com

Microsoft Corp. today announced its third quarter earnings, with third-quarter revenue of $16.43 billion for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2011, a 13% increase from the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.71 billion, $5.23 billion, and $0.61 per share, which represented increases of 10%, 31%, and 36%, respectively, when compared with the prior year period.

Microsoft Business Division (MBD), which includes the Dynamics product line as well as Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync, grew revenue 21% year-over-year.  Dynamics CRM was noted among other products for "driving significant growth" for the division. 

MBD showed 21% revenue growth to $5.252 billion and 25% operating income increase to $3.165 billion for the three months ended March 31 2011 compared to 2010, and 20% and 25%, respectively for the nine months ended March 31.

While Office makes up 90% of MBD's revenue, the company noted a 10% growth in Dynamics revenue over  three months and 7% increase over nine months compared to 2010.

The company also reported that since its release last spring, Office 2010 has become the fastest-selling version of Office in history".

Diluted earnings per share included a $0.05 tax benefit primarily related to an agreement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to settle a portion of their audit of tax years 2004 to 2006.

"We delivered strong financial results despite a mixed PC environment, which demonstrates the strength and breadth of our businesses," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. "Consumers are purchasing Office 2010, Xbox and Kinect at tremendous rates, and businesses of all sizes are purchasing Microsoft platforms and applications."

Microsoft Corporate
About Jason Gumpert

As the editor of MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason oversees all editorial content on the site and at our events, as well as providing site management and strategy. He can be reached at jgumpert@msdynamicsworld.com.

Prior to co-founding MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason was a Principal Software Consultant at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), where he implemented solutions, trained customers, managed software development, and spent some time in the pre-sales engineering organization. He has also held consulting positions at CSC Consulting and Monitor Group.

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