Microsoft makes $5.2 billion net profit, says Surface sales on the rise

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget....mp_620x340.jpgMicrosoft has just posted first quarter earnings that suggest it's faring well despite atough PC market. Although the company's revenue was down from the previous quarter to $18.5 billion, its net profit climbed to $5.2 billion; both figures were double-digit improvements over the same quarter a year ago. The Redmond firm chalked up most of the success to growth in its corporate-focused Commercial group. Not that its Devices and Consumer division was in dire straits -- while Windows revenue from PC makers was down 7 percent, search ad revenue was up 47 percent. The Surface tablet line also saw a quarter-to-quarter increase in revenue to $400 million that was likely helped by price cuts to outgoing models.
The company hasn't provided an outlook for its second quarter as of this writing, but it's easy to anticipate strong performance. Microsoft has just launched Windows 8.1, which will net $113 million in pre-order revenue (currently deferred); it could also trigger a surge in PC sales as customers upgrade. The tech giant is also launching a new round of first-party hardware during the period, including the Surface 2, Surface Pro 2 and Xbox One. It may be difficult to repeat this perfect storm of profit in 2014, but we doubt that Ballmer and crew are about to complain in the next few months.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/24/m...2014-earnings/