Microsoft snags $14.5b revenue, $4.01b net income for Q3
By Ross Miller 
posted April 22nd 2010 5:31PM
posted April 22nd 2010 5:31PM
Update: Market Watch is reporting that Apple has today surpassed Microsoft on the S&P 500, with a float-adjusted market cap of $241.5b, compared with Microsoft's $239.5b. Exxon is still at the top. It's worth noting that this is a free-float index that only considers stocks readily available for trading, and not free-floating stocks such as those held by company insiders. According to the Wall Street Journal, that important caveat explains the discrepancy between those figures and what we're seeing in full market value, where Microsoft's $275.3b cap still bests Apple's $241.63b. So which is the largest tech company based on market capitalization? That depends on how you measure.
Update: The call is on and yes, we'll be liveblogging.
3:11PM Natal being previewed at E3 in June, unsurprising... and that's it!
3:11PM Last question. Q: "Windows 7 upgrade cycle... it appears that a lot of customers are going to attach the upgrade with a server 2008 R2 upgrade." Are you sensing that, and would that delay the typical cycle and / or increase server sales? A: "A high percentage of our customers are either in pilot or prelaunch for deploying Windows 7." We haven't seen that phenomenon... see? You weren't missing much.
3:08PM As you might've guessed, no, analysts aren't interested in yet-to-be revealed Halo Reach multiplayer maps.
3:03PM "Multinational OEMs are being a more significant portion of the PC market." Piracy is also apparently down, on a global scale.
2:57PM Most of these questions so far are primarily related to finance, annuities, etc. We're gonna try to abstain from relaying that and just let you know if they talk about any juicy hardware / software details.
2:55PM Q: "Return to normal seasonality in unearned revenue..." and so on. A: Not important.
2:53PM Q&A time!
2:53PM To clarify, that means the second half of this calendar year. And we've known all that.
2:52PM Entertainment and Devices in first half of fiscal year. Natal (and launch title), Halo Reach, Fable 3, and Windows Phone 7. That's the most exciting part we've heard yet.
2:47PM Entertainment and Devices and Mobile divisions were discussed briefly -- 1.5 million consoles sold, software attach rate 8.8%, first party software revenue declined prior to Halo Wars. Substantially upset by Xbox LIVE membership. And just like that, we're back to more numbers.
2:45PM Starbucks, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and others are "all going to the cloud" with Microsoft. How does this affect the average consumer? It doesn't really, but we thought we'd share something so you knew you weren't missing much.
2:44PM "Last Friday, we released to manufacturing Office 2010." First availability in May, general availability in June.
2:43PM Search outperformed market. "We continue to be enthused with Bing's momentum." 10 months of growth. 11 percent share of search market.
2:39PM "We estimate PC market grew 25 percent year over year. Within that, we estimate consumer PCs grew almost 30 percent while business almost 14 percent."
2:37PM Bill Koefoed, General Manager of Investor Relations, is on the line now. Before that was CFO Peter Klein. More financial figures.
2:36PM So far we're just listening to someone read from the cue cards -- nothing new or exciting yet.
I really need to get around to buying some Microsoft stock
@spsfinest
WHO CARES.
@spsfinest
To:
All those f***tards that keep cursing engadget for the live blogging of Apple earnings call... if you don't tune in and read every single line of this post... your balls will roll off the bed tonight when you sleep!
@spsfinest, it will only be going higher when WP7 is released and later in 2011 with Courier, but really no sign of it going down any time soon.
(Plus I'm sure they have other projects we don't know about)
@spsfinest
The stock doesn't reflect revenue at all, it only goes up because it beats expectations. If they made only 2bill in profit, their stock probably would've gone down.
@HotDog Their stock *is* going down... about 4% after hours.
@Templarian I saw that during the conference call some ask about:
Zune HD2
Courier
New Xbox coming out this year
@spsfinest
Here's the earnings report and no live blogging as compared to Apple's. I smell bias.
@zeroinfinity2
According to the post, the call does not start until 5:30.
@spsfinest
I wouldn't be bullish on MSFT long-term. However, the stock price has been flat or declining for some time, but they seem to have been digging their heads out of their asses after 10 years of mediocrity, so there is definitely room for upside on the stock price.
@UnixSystemsEngineer
Microsoft P/E Ratio = 17
Apple P/E Ratio = 25
Apple will have to continue firing on all cylinders to maintain that stock price. Any slip up could get ugly (for example Android sales bite into iPhone sales growth). Microsoft has more room to maneuver.
As for Market Cap = All shares outstanding x Share Price. Don't start pulling float adjusted or any other measure. It just reeks of Apple bias.
Frankly, I own both stocks - so I want both to do well.
@who said what
I was one of those guys you were referencing. To my knowledge, this is the first time ever that Engadget has live blogged their financial call. With that in mind ...
THANK YOU ENGADGET. I appreciate your efforts to diversify your coverage and provide information on MS. Next time Apple is live blogged I won't say anything about it :)
@AlienSix
Wow... those are really huge markets...
:S..
Why don't you ask if Ballmer's Microsoft Bob hangs to the right or to the left...
2 products, guys... Windows and Office... everything else is a hobby.
@Templarian
It doesn't really work that way, at least not always.
If treat stock market like a lottery, you'll always love in the long run.
@blueskyv201
* lose . . .
ehh, works both ways I guess.
@blueskyv201, tracking products and measuring response can usually lead to a valid forecast. Not sure if you've noticed but even outside of the geek world people know what Windows Phone 7 something most would have cared about just a year ago.
I wasn't counting Office's revenues, just those linked to hardware. From the people that got the RTM of Office today it's even more stable than the beta which will give that a high adoption rate.
@Wesscoast youre a bit of a moron arent you? if xbox is a hobby its a hobby id love to be a part of... and Windows and Office make A LOT more than osx and whatever crap office ripoff apple sells... with the introduction of the new phone OS its gonna be fun to see just how well Apple does with so many better alternatives that offer choice in the wild considering there havent really been thus far also Blackberry > Apple FACT
@SteveyAyo
Hahah... but Apple has way more than 2 products bringing in tons of revenues. Congratulations, you just clowned yourself.
And your threw up Blackberry (WTF??) gang signs on your way out. What a winner.
@bjsguess
The New Engadget Fox News Version: Fair And Balanced?
@LGH
The funny thing is Apple generally doesn't have very many surprises, so there is really not many tricks up it's sleeve concerning products. The only surprises are the marketing of the products we know are coming anyway. But I suspect that it will start becoming difficult to market that logo again like it did back in the mid 90s when it was rainbow colored. That being said, I do think Microsoft would do better with an identifable consumer friendly logo, such as a Microsoft Bunny or something.
@Wesscoast clowned myself? i guess considering only one company has been innovating since 06 well just wait to see how long it takes the rest of the world to catch onto apples crap and how they havent made a real advancement for YEARS
@spsfinest I'm very pleased for MS with this profit -- while others may think that Apple beats them already, hearing this report sure is refreshing. Just wait until MS releases its Windows Phone (XNA games support for xbox) and for sure Ballmer will be wild again :D Reactions-- http://j.mp/xna-games-4-0
@bjsguess
My respect for you as a fellow engadget follower increased a little bit today!
@Templarian Forgot about Natal as well.
@spsfinest their stock as been flatlining for the past decade.
@LGH
MSFT: P/E = 17 Market Value = $270B
AAPL: P/E = 23 Market Value = $245B
GOOG: P/E = 25 Market Value = $175B
@spsfinest
I've got some stock in MSFT. It still hasn't recovered to its 2007 levels of 37+.
AAPL is catching them
@uck
MS owns part of Apple so I don't think they would mind
@spsfinest
Not anymore.
@spsfinest No. Can't believe people still say that in 2010.
@uck
yeah they've been trying to do that for 30 years.
Woah-woah-woah wait.
Engadget posting something about another tech company's revenue? And it isn't Apple?
@Jobee You're thinking about Gizmodo, not Engadget.
@Jobee
Engadget has always done this, just they used to not get around to it until 4 hours later in Microsoft's case.
They did say "...and will also be listening in on Microsoft's 5:30PM ET call, so stay tuned! ". So this is a marked improvement. So give them credit!
@LAY
How's Ballmer doing?
Eat dem' Apples
@HotDog
Put another way, Apple is the new Microsoft. Read into that whatever you want.
AAPL is catching them
@uck LOL you got downranked twice for that comment, and here is why: no one cares whose stock is higher, we only care who offers us better quality products...
Computer OS = Microsoft
Gaming = Microsoft
Innovation = Microsoft (check out photosynth and other such amazing MSFT advancements if you dont believe me)
PMP = Tie (ipod and zune both viable options)
Phones = Apple (for now)
@SteveyAyo
I agree with most of your points, but you fail to realize; that is YOUR opinion.
Don't feed the trolls, they will take you under the bridge with them.
@SteveyAyo
What makes any of this true?
@Kwame Nkrumah None of what he's saying is fact. It's all opinion.
The only thing I agree with in his comment is that no one who isn't a stock trader should be having a hissy fit over who's float-adjusted market cap is bigger.
@N900
Well here's mine:
Computer OS: Tie
Gaming: Microsoft
Innovation: Apple
PMP: Apple
Phones: Apple
@N900 It's really childish. "My daddy is stronger than your daddy". Hopefully they'll grow up and realize nobody gives a shit.
@Kwame Nkrumah
Well Kwame.. tell me how many apple servers.. Ha that just funny to say.. Apple servers are running SQL Server, Exchange, Oracle, DB2, Blackberry Services, anything.. that is truly business related. Nada. So like most Apple people you only think about your Ipod, pad, whatever... and never think about the broader market. The Iphone needs Exchange just to have a reliable corporate email service.. and if you say they can use google.. then you just prove my point.
Apple builds good products, but they are not the innovators of all innovation. Lastly, much of their cap is built on hype. How can someone who has less that 11% of the computer market, less than 20% of the phone market, be bigger than the company that owns the desktop market, server market, database market (mid sized and smaller firms), 50% of the gaming market, ...
Yes you are entitled to your opinion, but your opinion is wrong.. thats right I said it!
@SteveyAyo
I thought it was interesting since no one would have expected it 5 years ago. Honestly I didn't even know it was as close as it was. Pretty interesting because it shows a trend that can allow us to speculate the future.
@gmcboot
And your opinion is sh!t! He gave his opinion and I gave me but like the raging fanboy you are you couldn't handle it.
@SolidSnake well i never claimed that i speak for the entire world but as someone who has experienced both sides this is what ive experienced but one thing that ISNT opinion is that since 2006 Microsoft has been the more innovative of the two, they just dont make commercials talking about how magical and awesome they are (and im talking overall not just phones)
@Kwame Nkrumah Hey cool we have something in common