Microsoft shares soar despite profit drop
Last Updated: Friday, October 23, 2009 | 4:45 PM ET
CBC News
Software maker Microsoft reported a drop in net income of 18 per cent in the latest quarter.
Profit dropped to $3.6 billion US, or 40 cents per share, compared to $4.4 billion, or 48 cents per share, in the same period in 2008.
Revenue sank 14 per cent to $12.9 billion US, but most of that resulted from an accounting decision. Microsoft recorded only half the revenue from sales of its Windows operating system sales for the period.
It has been running a promotional offer that lets new PC buyers load Vista and then install its new Windows 7 system, which it launched Thursday, for free later. It'll record the other half of the revenue from those sales by January as the buyers upgrade.
Investors ignored that, knowing that otherwise, earnings would have been up eight per cent.
Microsoft shares hit a one-year high of $29.23 US in morning trading on the NASDAQ, before falling back. They closed up $1.43, or five per cent, at $28.02.
