Microsoft Registers $19.95 Billion in Revenue Last Quarter

Friday, 11 February 2011 18:08

Written by Julius

Thanks to robust sales of its software Office 2010 and its gaming motion sensing device Kinect, software giant Microsoft enjoyed a stronger quarter with revenues topping $19.95 billion. By comparison to the same quarter from the year before, the new figure marked a 5% jump. As for quarterly profits, Microsoft reported $6.63 billion, a very slight drop of 0.45% compared to the previous year’s quarter.

The revenue jump was pretty much driven by the company’s Entertainment & Devices division which handles Xbox 360 consoles, Xbox LIVE and first-party games. Among the division’s top achievements is the Kinect (priced at $149.99), which sold over five million units worldwide as of December 31, 2010 and was quickly bought by casual gamers as well as people who suddenly gained interesting in video gaming. Microsoft’s games for the Kinect, including Kinectimals and Kinect Sports, also sold well worldwide. The Entertainment & Devices division grew 55% for the entire year. Shipments of Kinect have reached 8 million shortly after the start of the year.

On computer software, Office 2010 was no less a stellar hit for the company. Its sales easily outpaced Office 2007 by a whopping 50% in the same amount of time it took presence in the market. Released in multiple versions, Office 2010 contains updated editions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other known applications, as well as new features such as the Outlook Social Connector (which allows users to connect to their favorite social networks inside the application). Businesswise, Microsoft is doing well and analysts are confident the company will continue to deliver strong performances.