Microsoft's revenueof $13.65bn posted
yesterday for the first three months of 2009 is 6% lower than for
the same period last year.
This the first quarterly drop in revenues for the software maker
in its history, proving that almost no tech company is invulnerable
to the effects of the economic downturn.
The firm's net income declined 32% to $2.98bn and earnings per
share fell 30% to 33 cents a share compared with a year ago.
Microsoft said revenues from enterprise customers had remained
stable, but other areas of the business had been hit by
falling demand in the PC and server markets.
The biggest losses were in the PC operating system business,
which fell 16% to $3.4bn, and the internet division, where revenues
dropped 14% to $721m.
"While market conditions remained weak during the quarter, I was
pleased with the organization's ability to offset revenue pressures
with the swift implementation of cost-savings initiatives," said
Chris Liddell, chief financial officer at Microsoft.
However, Liddell does not share the view of other technology
companies like Intel that say the
worst of the economic downturn is past.
"We expect the weakness to continue through at least the next
quarter," he said.
Even Apple, which posted
strong first quarter results this week, did not forecast
equally strong results for the next three months.