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Tag: Satya Nadella

  • ‘Strategic Leadership’ Leads to a 66% Raise for Microsoft’s Nadella

    ‘Strategic Leadership’ Leads to a 66% Raise for Microsoft’s Nadella

    In its proxy statement, Microsoft announced a significant raise for CEO Satya Nadella.

    Citing his ‘strategic leadership,’ Microsoft’s independent board awarded Nadella $42.9 million in compensation, much of it in stock awards. Nadella has been instrumental in helping Microsoft transition from a company primarily focused on operating systems and office software to one whose cloud services are front-and-center. This has enabled Microsoft to adapt to a changing landscape dominated by fast-moving, upstart companies. The success of Nadella’s leadership is shown in the numbers.

    “Under Mr. Nadella’s leadership and ongoing commitment to long-term success, the Company saw a strong finish to a record fiscal year delivering more than $125 billion in revenue for the full year with double-digit revenue and net income growth in 2019.

    “The commercial cloud business led the way, surpassing $38 billion in revenue, growing over 40% for the year. The strength in commercial cloud growth was across Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and LinkedIn. The commitment to customer success resulted in deeper partnerships and larger, longer-term cloud agreements. Microsoft continued to make investments across the key strategic areas to build new platforms and enhance and differentiate Microsoft’s technology stack, including application infrastructure, data and artificial intelligence (“AI”) business process, productivity, collaboration, and hardware. Microsoft Teams had a very successful year, with more than 13 million daily active users and 19 million weekly active users.

    “Further, the closing of the GitHub acquisition in October 2018 and its successful integration has created new opportunities to build the developer community. With GitHub, Microsoft now has the opportunity to bring all its resources to better serve this very important community of developers around the world. Microsoft also invested in building a developer toolchain independent of language, framework, or cloud. Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code are now the most popular code-editing tools in the world, and TypeScript is the fastest-growing programming language.

    “Windows 10 momentum was very strong this past year as well, reaching 800 million active devices. While opportunities remain for the Company with consumers, the Company’s Gaming business made new investments to empower the world’s gaming community. However, the Company needs to make progress to strengthen our consumer business and additional work is needed in consumer-facing strategies.”

  • Chevron, Schlumberger and Microsoft Announce Collaboration to Create Oil Field Intelligence Platform

    Chevron, Schlumberger and Microsoft Announce Collaboration to Create Oil Field Intelligence Platform

    In what is considered to be an industry first, Chevron, Schlumberger and Microsoft have announced a three-party collaboration to accelerate the development of petrotechnical and digital technologies.

    DELFI is a stable, secure and open cloud-based environment for E&P software across the entire petrochemical lifecycle, including exploration, development and production. The three companies will work together to develop Azure-native applications in the DELFI environment.

    The collaboration will roll out in three phases. In the first phase, the companies will deploy the Petrotechnical Suite within the DELFI environment. The second phase will involve deploying Azure-based, cloud-native applications, while the third phase will be centered around the development of a suite of cognitive computing capabilities across the entire E&P value chain.

    All three companies are committed to ensuring their joint development efforts meet the latest security, performance and release management standards. In addition, the software will be compatible with the Open Subsurface Data Universe (OSDU) Data Platform, a standard data platform for the oil and gas industry. The OSDU’s stated goal is to ensure data is at the center of the industry, minimizing data silos.

    Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, touted the collaboration as “an enormous opportunity to bring the latest cloud and AI technology to the energy sector and accelerate the industry’s digital transformation. Our partnership with Schlumberger and Chevron delivers on this promise, applying the power of Azure to unlock new AI-driven insights that will help address some of the industry’s—the world’s—most important energy challenges, including sustainability.”

  • Larry Ellison: Amazon uses Oracle, not Amazon to Run Their Business… Because AWS is Not Good Enough

    Larry Ellison: Amazon uses Oracle, not Amazon to Run Their Business… Because AWS is Not Good Enough

    Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison says that Amazon does not even use their own database to run their business. “Amazon runs their entire business on top of Oracle, on top of the Oracle Database,” Ellison said. “They have been unable to migrate to AWS because it is not good enough.”

    Larry Ellison, Oracle co-founder, discussed why Oracle is still the best database in the world and why it’s significantly better than Amazon and SAP databases in an interview this morning:

    Amazon Does Not Use AWS to Run Their Business

    Sometimes I liken the computer industry to the fashion industry. Certain brands get popular, certain brands get unpopular. IBM when I first came into the industry was the ultimate brand. It was not a company against whom you would compete, it was the environment which you would compete. Amazon now is the number one brand in infrastructure cloud computing.

    Let me tell you an interesting fact. Amazon does not use AWS to run their business. Amazon runs their entire business on top of Oracle, on top of the Oracle Database. They have been unable to migrate to AWS because it is not good enough. I keep saying this because they just spent another 50 million dollars last year buying still more Oracle Database. I keep saying this because well maybe our database is better than Amazon’s databases. Why else would Amazon keep buying our database?

    Last year they bravely said that they are sick of these comments of mine and they are going to move off of Oracle. They said they are going to move off of Oracle by 2020. Well guess what, they took their first step, they just moved a bunch of their warehouses off of Oracle and guess what happened. I will send you a copy of Amazon’s internal memo. It went down. It failed. They had a huge outage. They said that if they would have stayed with the Oracle Database this wouldn’t have happened.

    All of the World’s Most Valuable Data Runs on Oracle, Not Amazon

    The Oracle Database manages most of the world’s data, today and ten years ago. Nothing has changed. All of the world’s important valuable data is in an Oracle Database. They’re not in Amazon’s database. Amazon won’t use its own database to run its business.

    So if our database is so great what have we done wrong? We didn’t get our database to the cloud quickly enough. If you wanted a cloud database, you had to go to Amazon for a database. Then you were able to go to Microsoft for a database. It took a while for us to build a secure cloud. It’s really hard to build a secure cloud. We think we are there now.

    We have by far and away the best database in the world. Nothing is close. We show a series of benchmarks where we are ten times faster than Amazon. More importantly, we are ten times cheaper to run the same exact thing on Amazon on our database. So if you want all that security and want all that reliability, you have to be able to spend less. That’s what we’ve shown in a series of benchmarks. Even Amazon can’t move.

    People say that Oracle has no chance in database and Amazon’s going to dominate everything, well you would think that one of the early customers that Amazon would move, how about Amazon. No, Amazon picked Oracle.

    We Have a 10-20 Year Lead on Amazon

    We think we have a 10-20 year lead on Amazon on databases. Let me prove it. Another thing, Amazon uses Oracle not Amazon. Amazon’s transaction processing database that they have is called Aurora. Aurora is an open source database. They just it picked up and made it closed source on Amazon. They didn’t write any of that. They picked up Aurora, put it on Amazon and made it available on their cloud. Well, so who owns Aurora? Who develops Aurora? That would be Oracle. It’s called MySQL. That’s our small open source database which they claim is their big transaction processing database that’s going to replace Oracle. It’s just preposterous that Amazon didn’t even develop the Amazon database. It’s just a chunk of open source that we are responsible for called MySQL. MySQL does not compare to the Oracle Database. There is a reason Amazon uses Oracle.

    SAP Also Uses Oracle Everywhere

    You know who else uses Oracle? Another company that hates us, SAP uses Oracle everywhere. SAP ten years ago said I hate Oracle, I’m getting off of Oracle, I can’t stand these guys, especially this guy that goes on TV and makes fun of us. They say we have this great new database called Hanna. It’s awesome. Well, they have all of these cloud services such as SuccessFactors. Does it run on Hanna? But oh no, it runs on Oracle. Actually, 98 percent of everything SAP does runs on Oracle. A decade later, they still use Oracle, can’t get to Hanna.

    The Oracle Database beat IBM in the database business and beat Microsoft in the database business. We’ve been in this business for 20 years constantly making our database better. Now it’s the world’s first autonomous system.

    The Oracle Database is Much Better Than Anyone Else Has

    The EU actually did a study, of the top hundred SAP customers in Europe how many of them run the Oracle Database? Only 99 percent. One actually ran IBM DB2. All of their cloud services, whether it’s SuccessFactors, Ariba, all of these things which they’ve been trying to get off of Oracle and onto Hanna for a decade still all run Oracle. The reason is that Oracle is just a much better database than anyone else has.

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was asked if I can have any other piece of software in the world what would it be? Everyone thought he was going to say Google Search. He said the Oracle Database because it’s the information age and all of the world’s most valuable information is stored in an Oracle Database.

  • CEO’s of Adobe, Microsoft, SAP Announce the Launch of the Open Data Initiative

    CEO’s of Adobe, Microsoft, SAP Announce the Launch of the Open Data Initiative

    CEO’s of Adobe, Microsoft, SAP announced the launch of the Open Data Initiative, a new data repository in the cloud dedicated to facilitating collaboration across the global research community. This is an initiative squarely aimed at Facebook and Google, in effect challenging them to provide all customer related data back to the customer. Here is Microsoft’s portal to the Open Data Initiative.

    Below are key highlights from a discussion the three tech CEO’s had on CNBC…

    Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft:

    The insight that all three of us had based on the work we’re doing with many customers, such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Walmart, today as customers they’re all excited about this open data initiative. It’s their real insight that led us to do this, how do we work to put them in control of their own customer data, because that’s the real currency.

    Any brand out there cares deeply about the continuous improvement of their own customer data understanding. The three of us coming together is going to be central to them feeling in control of their own customer data.

    Bill McDermott, CEO, SAP:

    There isn’t a CEO in the world that does not want to have a single view of their customer and they have to connect their demand chain to their supply chain and do so in real time. If you think about the consumer whose social, mobile, they’re geospatial, they’re always on the fly, they’re going to shop different companies in all channels, direct to consumer and retail, and you have to make sure that connection point with that consumer is really intimate.

    These companies need to be intelligent enterprises because more and more AI and predictive analytics is going to rule how you engage with that customer. Ultimately, what you have to do is fulfill, so now you’re going to see the demand and the supply chain completely integrated and that data will be shared evenly among our companies so the customer is the major benefactor of the Open Data Initiative we announced today.

    Shantanu Narayen, CEO, Adobe:

    All three of us shared this vision of how do we enable enterprises to put customers at the front of the digital journey. Getting behavioral data, getting transactional data, and getting customer engagement to be the front and center is the most important thing that enterprises can do so that digital is actually a tailwind rather than a headwind.

    What Marketo does is add to our offerings in the Experience Cloud of being able to create this unified profile for all customers. The thing that every customer will tell you today is that they want an engaging experience with whoever they’re doing business with, whether it’s financial services, automotive, or retail. Adobe focused a lot more on B2C customers, but the same requirements that were true for B2C customers are now true for B2B customers and that’s what Marketo provides.

    Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft:

    The name itself should tell everything, it’s an open data initiative. It’s about really unlocking the data that is our customers’ data about their own customers. I think what is foundational here is trust. In other words, ultimately customers will decide.

    Also, compliance with their own customers trust in them is also going to be very key, because if you think about it one of the top considerations for anything around customer data is privacy and regulation around privacy. So the most important thing here would be for each vendor to think through how they participate here and ensure that there is more trust in the entirety of the value chain, starting with the end consumer to the brand and to us as software vendors or tech companies.

    I think the real challenge is going to be for some who may want to join but their business model is probably not going to allow them to join. I think overall though what we have all anchored on is if we can create an architecture and an incentive system that turns the tide to put customers in control of their own customer data I think the overall economy will be better off.

  • Ballmer Says Satya Nadella is Taking Microsoft “To Infinity and Beyond”

    Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently told Bloomberg that current CEO Satya Nadella is taking Microsoft “to infinity and beyond.” In the interview with Emily Chang, Ballmer reflected on his relationship with Bill Gates and defended his role in the success of Microsoft saying, “I take great satisfaction in the things we accomplished throughout the time, not just when I became CEO.”

    A Miserable Beginning

    “When I became CEO we had a very miserable year,” said Ballmer. “Bill didn’t know how to work for anybody and I didn’t know how to manage Bill. I’m not sure I ever learned the latter.”

    “I’d say my life changed a lot in 2008 when Bill actually left the company. In a sense I felt like, okay, we are not partners anymore, I have to take accountability. I think I did some of my very best work at the company after Bill left.”

    Ballmer Takes Credit for Microsoft’s Move to the Cloud

    Ballmer also made the case that his strategy to push Bing is also where Microsoft first moved into cloud services. “I pushed us into Bing and sustained that investment. That’s really where we got into the cloud.

    “We started with what’s now Office 365 and Azure after Bill left,” he added. “We pushed into the hardware business with Surface, etc. Now Satya Nadella, my successor, is sort of taking things to infinity and beyond, if you well.”

    Ballmer defended the mixed reviews some have given him. “Did I have a lot of success, yeah. Are there some things I wish I did differently, of course. I started a company that had about $2.5 million in revenue and 30 people and I left a company that had $22 billion in profit and I feel net-net, that’s pretty good success.”

    Ballmer on Leaving Microsoft

    He also talked about his relationship with Gates. “We’ve kind of drifted apart. He’s got his life and I sort of have mine. Microsoft was the thing that really bound us. We started off as friends and then really got enmeshed around Microsoft. Since I’ve gone, we’ve really have drifted a little bit.”

    Ballmer said that leaving Microsoft was not a simple thing and he gave two reasons for it happening. First, there was a “difference in opinion on the strategic direction of the company. Number two, he and I always had what I call a brotherly relationship in the good parts and the bad parts, and I just think towards the end that it was a bit more difficult than not. You know, the stock price wasn’t going anywhere so the rest of the Board felt pressured, despite the fact that profits were going up. I think you had kind of a combustible situation.”

    “At the end of the day I have the great comfort in knowing what I did and in feeling good about myself and everything else doesn’t really matter.”

    Would Have Moved Into the Phone Business Faster

    Ballmer also gave more details on strategic disagreements for the direction of Microsoft.

    “I think there was a fundamental disagreement in how important it was to be in the hardware business. I had pushed Surface and the Board had been a little reluctant in supporting it. Then, things came to a climax around what to do in the phone business.”

    “I would have moved into the hardware business faster and recognized that what we had in the PC where there was a separation in chips, systems and software wasn’t largely going to reproduce itself in the mobile world.”

    “I wish I’d thought about the model of subsidizing phones through the operators,” said Ballmer. “People like to point to this quote where I said iPhones will never sell, it was because the price of $700 was too high. There was business model innovation by Apple, to get it essentially built into the monthly cell phone bill.”

    “We should have been in the hardware business sooner in the phone case and we were still suffering from some of the effects of our Vista release of Windows, which sucked up a huge amount of resources for a much longer period of time than it should have, because we stumbled over it. When you have a lot of your engineers, sort of in a sense, being non-productive for awhile it really takes its toll.

    I Wanted to Buy Nokia

    “I certainly wanted to buy Nokia. The Board disagreed with that and later came back and said the company should go ahead even though I had decide to leave.

    If executed in a certain way, I think it made a lot of sense. Our company chose to go in another direction and that’s the choice the company made.”

    The Market Agrees with Satya

    “I see the stock price flying sky high and all you can say is the market certainly agrees with the direction Satya has taken the company and I’m super excited about that.”

    Watch the full interview:

  • Microsoft Launches ‘Envision’ Event For Business Leaders

    Microsoft Launches ‘Envision’ Event For Business Leaders

    Microsoft recently announced the launch of Microsoft Envision, which it describes as a new flagship event for business leaders.

    The event will feature keynotes and interactive sessions with “a broad slate of visionaries, experts and innovators” as well as industry-specific content and networking opportunities.

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will deliver the opening keynote.

    “Microsoft Envision is designed for CxOs and their senior department and functional leaders who are driven to shape their own future and position their organizations and business for success in a mobile first, cloud first world,” says Chris Capossela, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft.

    “Microsoft Envision brings together the most forward thinking minds in business and technology,” the company says on the event site. “Whether you’re a business leader or decision maker, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear the latest business trends and discover solutions that can help you, your team and your business achieve more.”

    Envision will take place in New Orleans from April 4 – 6. Registration is open.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Microsoft Announces 7,800 Job Cuts from Phone Division

    Microsoft has announced that it will cut up to 7,800 jobs, mostly in the company’s phone hardware business. The company is also writing off $7.6 billion related to its acquisition of Nokia’s phone business despite only spending $7.2 billion to acquire it last year.

    “I am committed to our first-party devices including phones. However, we need to focus our phone efforts in the near term while driving reinvention. We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem that includes our first-party device family,” said CEO Satya Nadella in a memo to employees.

    “In the near term, we will run a more effective phone portfolio, with better products and speed to market given the recently formed Windows and Devices Group. We plan to narrow our focus to three customer segments where we can make unique contributions and where we can differentiate through the combination of our hardware and software. We’ll bring business customers the best management, security and productivity experiences they need; value phone buyers the communications services they want; and Windows fans the flagship devices they’ll love.”

    About a year ago, Nadella announced a significant shakeup and set in motion the company’s biggest-ever job cuts – 18,000 in 12 months.

    “I deeply appreciate all of the ideas and hard work of everyone involved in these businesses, and I want to reiterate my commitment to helping each individual impacted,” he said

    Last month, Microsoft sent around 100 Bing maps data collection engineers over to Uber.

    “We will continue to source base mapping data and imagery from partners. This allows us to focus our efforts on delivering great map products such as Bing Maps, Maps app for Windows and our Bing Maps for Enterprise APIs,” said Nadella in today’s memo.

    Around the same time, Microsoft and AOL announced a huge agreement which saw AOL assume management and sales responsibilities for all of Microsoft’s display, mobile, and video ad inventory.

    Of that, Nadella writes:

    “We also announced our decision to sharpen our focus in advertising platform technology and concentrate on search, while we partner with AOL and AppNexus for display. Bing will now power search and search advertising across the AOL portfolio of sites, in addition to the partnerships we already have with Yahoo!, Amazon and Apple. Concentrating on search will help us further accelerate the progress we’ve been making over the past six years. Last year Bing grew to 20 percent query share in the U.S. while growing our search advertising revenue 28 percent over the past 12 months. We view search technology as core to our efforts spanning Bing.com, Cortana, Office 365, Windows 10 and Azure services.”

  • Yahoo Could Still Drop Microsoft Soon

    Yahoo Could Still Drop Microsoft Soon

    Last week, Yahoo and Microsoft announced that they have reworked the terms of their search partnership after extending a deadline for coming to new terms. This followed speculation that Yahoo could put an end to the companies’ relationship, as CEO Marissa Mayer’s alleged unhappiness with the deal has been widely reported in the past.

    The companies decided to stay together, but under terms that are largely better for Yahoo, which gets increased flexibility to enhance its own search experience on any platform. The partnership is non-exclusive for both desktop and mobile. Yahoo will continue to serve Bing ads and search results for “most” (51%) of its desktop search traffic, it said, and can do whatever it wants on mobile.

    Additionally, they made some changes to ad sales. Microsoft will be the exclusive salesforce for ads delivered by its own Bing Ads platform, and Yahoo will continue to be the exclusive salesforce for its Yahoo Gemini ads platform.

    This week, Yahoo filed a regulatory document with the SEC (via Reuters), and it lays out the exact changes to the agreement, and it includes a termination clause that would allow Yahoo to bail on Microsoft on or after October 1 if it chooses.

    Here are the changes to the agreement as described in the document:

    Services and Exclusivity

    Previously under the Search Agreement, Microsoft was the exclusive algorithmic and paid search services provider to Yahoo on personal computers for Yahoo’s online properties and services (“Yahoo Properties”) and for search services provided by Yahoo to its distribution network of third party entities who integrate Yahoo’s advertising offerings into their Websites and other offerings (“Affiliate sites”). Microsoft was the non-exclusive provider on mobile devices. Pursuant to the Amendment, Microsoft will provide such services on a non-exclusive basis for Yahoo Properties and Affiliate sites on personal computers. Commencing on May 1, 2015, Yahoo agrees to request paid search results from Microsoft for 51% of its search queries originating from personal computers accessing Yahoo Properties and its Affiliate sites (the “Volume Commitment”) and will display only Microsoft’s paid search results on such search result pages.

    Additionally, Yahoo will now have the ability in response to queries on both personal computers and mobile to request algorithmic listings only, paid listings only or both algorithmic and paid listings from Microsoft. To the extent Yahoo requests algorithmic listings only or requests paid listings but elects not to display such paid listings, Yahoo will pay Microsoft serving costs but not a revenue share. In other cases and with respect to the Volume Commitment, Yahoo will pay Microsoft a revenue share.

    Previously under the Search Agreement, Yahoo had sales exclusivity for Yahoo’s and Microsoft’s premium advertisers. Pursuant to the Amendment, this sales exclusivity will terminate on July 1, 2015. Yahoo and Microsoft will develop a plan to transition premium advertisers for Microsoft’s paid search services to Microsoft commencing on July 1, 2015 and to be completed by January 31, 2016.

    Revenue Share

    Yahoo is entitled to receive a percentage of the revenue (the “Revenue Share Rate”) generated from Microsoft’s services on Yahoo Properties and on Affiliate sites after deduction of the Affiliate sites’ share of revenue and certain Microsoft costs. Under the Search Agreement the Revenue Share Rate was 88% for the first five years and then increased to 90% on February 23, 2015. Pursuant to the Amendment, the Revenue Share Rate will be 93%, but will now apply before deduction of the Affiliate sites’ share of revenue.

    Term and Termination

    The term of the Search Agreement remains 10 years from its commencement date, February 23, 2010, subject to earlier termination as provided in the Search Agreement. Pursuant to the Amendment, on or after October 1, 2015, either Yahoo or Microsoft may terminate the Search Agreement by delivering a written notice of termination to the other party. The Search Agreement will remain in effect for four months from the date of the termination notice to provide for a transition period, however, Yahoo’s Volume Commitment will not apply in the third and fourth months of this transition period.

    So there you have it. If Yahoo, or Microsoft for that matter, doesn’t like how the deal is going under the terms, they’ll be able to call it off sooner rather than later. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Yahoo And Microsoft Rework Search Alliance

    Yahoo And Microsoft Rework Search Alliance

    Well, they’re not breaking up just yet. Yahoo and Microsoft just announced that they have agreed to amend their search partnership following the delay of talks about how to proceed, which led to a lot of speculation that they may part ways.

    The companies have vowed to continue working together, and have “reaffirmed commitments made by both companies in the original 2009 agreement, while implementing changes to keep the partnership strong and productive”. Both companies, the announcement says, are “committed to maximizing the alliance.”

    “Our global partnership with Yahoo has benefited our shared customers over the past five years and I look forward to building on what we’ve already accomplished together,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “Our partnership with Yahoo is one example of the diverse partnerships we’ll continue to cultivate in order to have the greatest impact for our customers.”

    “Over the past few months, Satya and I have worked closely together to establish a revised search agreement that allows us to enhance our user experience and innovate more in our search business,” said Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo. “This renewed agreement opens up significant opportunities in our partnership that I’m very excited to explore.”

    So the rumors about Yahoo working to improve its own search offering are true, apparently. This should make it easier for Yahoo to succeed when the companies eventually do part ways.

    The amendments to the deal come in two main areas. Yahoo will have increased flexibility to enhance its own search experience on any platform. The partnership is non-exclusive for both desktop and mobile. Yahoo will continue to serve Bing ads and search results for most of tis desktop search traffic, it says. Presumably, this leaves Yahoo free to do what it wants on mobile, where it has been focusing most of its efforts.

    The company has been rumored to be in talks to buy Foursquare, which could bring some interesting things to the table on mobile, though other reports have dismissed the rumor as BS.

    The second area that has changed in the Microsoft deal is that there is an increased “agility and sales focus.” Microsoft will be the exclusive salesforce for ads delivered by its own Bing Ads platform, and Yahoo will continue to be the exclusive salesforce for its Yahoo Gemini ads platform.

    “Integrating the sales teams with those responsible for engineering will allow both companies to service advertisers more effectively,” the companies said in the announcement. “Microsoft and Yahoo plan to begin to transition managed advertiser sales responsibilities this summer.”

    “The partnership, formed in 2009 by both CEOs’ predecessors, established a transformative relationship between the two companies — one where Microsoft exclusively provided paid and algorithmic search services on PC to Yahoo,” it says. “The alliance also designated a revenue sharing agreement where Microsoft pays Yahoo a percentage of Bing Ads revenue delivered from Yahoo searches. This existing underlying economic structure remains unchanged with today’s updates.”

    In related news, the latest comScore search market report is out, showing that Bing’s share in the U.S. has grown to 20.1% with Yahoo at 12.7%.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Should Yahoo & Microsoft End Their Search Alliance?

    The question of whether or not Yahoo and Microsoft will remain search partners is up in the air. The two companies have a decision to reach within the next month or so. In one scenario, the two companies could part ways. In another, they could agree to extend the existing relationship. In yet another, they could continue as partners, but under revised terms. Some are even contemplating if Yahoo will end up partnering with Google.

    Which of these scenarios would you like to see? Do you think the partnership should continue as is? Should Yahoo partner with Google? Tell us what you think.

    Based on an SEC filing, Reuters reports that Yahoo and Microsoft agreed to extend a deadline to reach an agreement by 60 days after February 23. The report says:

    It was not immediately clear if the extension signaled progress or lack of consensus between Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The announcement to extend the talks comes a few days after Nadella’s mother passed away in Hyderabad, India, according to a report in The Economic Times.

    While Microsoft isn’t saying anything, the report also shares this statement from Yahoo: “We value our partnership with Microsoft and continue discussions about plans for the future. We have nothing further to announce at this time.”

    But how much does Yahoo value that partnership? We’re talking about a partnership put together by these two companies while both were under different leadership (Carol Bartz at Yahoo and Steve Ballmer at Microsoft), and current Yahoo CEO (a former Googler) Marissa Mayer has criticized it in the past. In fact, according to some she absolutely hates the deal. Kara Swisher, who probably has better connections within Yahoo than anybody, shared this last year:

    Added the source, in a sentiment I have heard from many inside Yahoo who have spoken to her: “The minute Marissa finds a way out of that deal without committing suicide, she will. She hates it.”

    Swisher’s report was actually about Mayer’s “big push to return the company to the search business,” which said she was trying to “move Yahoo squarely into competition with both Google and Microsoft in an attempt to regain control over one of its key revenue streams.”

    “To do so, she has ordered up two under-the-radar initiatives that could potentially move the company into algorithmic search, as well as search advertising, again,” Swisher wrote.

    Mayer had been expressing her disappointment with the Microsoft deal long before that report, even in public settings. And that was after Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt reportedly said Google would “love to be a search partner for Yahoo.” Not long after that, the two partnered on contextual advertising.

    Keep in mind, Yahoo and Google tried to partner on search before Yahoo’s deal with Microsoft came to fruition. It never happened because of the threat of regulation, which led to Yahoo settling for Bing. Since then, Google has cleared some significant regulatory hurdles.

    A lot has happened since all of that though. For one, Yahoo was able to wrangle Firefox away from Google in the U.S. As of late last year, Yahoo is now the default search experience in Mozilla’s web browser. In November, Yahoo and Mozilla entered a partnership that made Yahoo the default search experience on Firefox, replacing Google, which had held the spot for the past decade. The deal showed some great early results for Yahoo in terms of search market share.

    Earlier this month, StatCounter release data indicating Yahoo was largely able to hang on to the initial gains it made in the search market, but that growth has pretty much come to a stop. The numbers for February were as follows: Google 74.9%, Bing 2.5%, and Yahoo 10.7%. That’s U.S. search share.

    Yahoo’s slowed growth hasn’t kept Google from more aggressively trying to get Firefox users to switch back to its search experience. They’ve actually been showing big ad-like messages at the top of unrelated search results pages:

    If you click “learn how,” you’re presented with this:

    This approach has been referred to as “begging” and “desperate” on Google’s part.

    Google is no doubt even more concerned about the possibility of losing Apple’s Safari browser too. All three of the big search engines want that, and Google’s deal with Apple should be expiring pretty soon. We’ve already seen Apple try to distance itself from Google in other ways.

    Mayer wasn’t shy about wanting Yahoo to power Safari on her company’s earnings call earlier this year:

    The Safari platform is basically one of the premiere search engine in the world, if not the premiere search engine in the world. We are definitely in the search distribution business. I think we stated that really clearly in the past and I think with Mozilla and also in addition we brought Amazon and eBay onboard with smaller distribution partnerships in Q4, we are in search distribution business and anyone who is in that business needs to be interested in the Safari deal.

    The Safari users are among the most engaged and lucrative users in the world and it’s something that we would really like to be able to provide.

    Swisher, who liveblogged the discussion, commented at the time, “Mayer appeared to practically salivate at the prospect if Apple throws over Google for someone else. Issue: Microsoft. Another issue: Yahoo search technology would have to be majorly upgraded.”

    It’s been over a year since Swisher’s report on Yahoo’s internal search plan. We don’t really know how that has progressed over that time. If progress has been major, that will undoubtedly play a role in how Yahoo’s partnership with Microsoft plays out.

    Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land opines, “Despite Mayer’s criticism of the Search Alliance, I would be surprised if the company completely abandoned the deal. Doing so would probably require many millions of dollars of additional investments to recreate what existed before Yahoo turned search over to Microsoft. Yahoo’s institutional investors would also probably balk at the move.”

    In the end, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens.

    What would you like to see happen with all of this? Let us know in the comments.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Microsoft Earnings Released With Record Revenue For The Quarter

    Microsoft Earnings Released With Record Revenue For The Quarter

    Microsoft just released its earnings for its Fiscal Year 2015 Q1, posting record first-quarter revenue thanks to its cloud and hardware offerings.

    The company managed to beat Wall Street expectations with EPS at $0.54 and revenue at $23.2 billion, down 13% and up 25% year-over-year, respectively.

    Device and Consumer revenue grew 47% to $10.96 billion with Office 365 Home and Personal subscribers reaching over 7 million (up 25% from the previous quarter. Surface Pro 3 saw revenue of $908 million while new Windows consumer licensing programs drove positive growth. The company sold 2.4 million Xbox consoles in the quarter, which is up 102% Phone hardware revenue topped $2.6 billion.

    Commercial revenue was up 10% to $12.8 billion. Server products and services revenue was up 13%. Office Commercial products and services revenue grew 5% while commercial cloud revenue grew 128% thanks to Office 365, Azure, and Dynamics CRM. Productivity server offerings (Lync, SharePoint and Exchange) saw growth as did Windows volume licensing revenue.

    CEO Satya Nadella said, “We are innovating faster, engaging more deeply across the industry, and putting our customers at the center of everything we do, all of which positions Microsoft for future growth. Our teams are delivering on our core focus of reinventing productivity and creating platforms that empower every individual and organization.”

    Here’s the release in its entirety:

    REDMOND, Wash. — October 23, 2014 — Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $23.20 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2014. Gross margin, operating income and diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) for the quarter were $14.93 billion, $5.84 billion and $0.54 per share, respectively.

    These financial results include $1.14 billion of integration and restructuring expenses, or an $0.11 per share negative impact, related to both Microsoft’s restructuring plan announced in July 2014 and the ongoing integration of the Nokia Devices and Services (“NDS”) business.

    The following table notes the impact of the integration and restructuring expenses on the company’s financial performance (“Noted Items”). This financial information is provided to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance. All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year.

    Three Months Ended September 30,

    ($ in millions, except per share amounts and percentages)

    Revenue

    Gross Margin

    Operating Income

    Diluted EPS

    2013 As Reported (GAAP)

    $18,529

    $13,384

    $6,334

    $0.62

    2014 As Reported (GAAP)

    $23,201

    $14,928

    $5,844

    $0.54

    % Y/Y (GAAP)

    25%

    12%

    (8)%

    (13)%

    2014 Impact of Noted Items

    $(1,140)

    $(0.11)

     

    “We are innovating faster, engaging more deeply across the industry, and putting our customers at the center of everything we do, all of which positions Microsoft for future growth,”  said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Our teams are delivering on our core focus of reinventing productivity and creating platforms that empower every individual and organization.”

    “We delivered a strong start to the year, with continued cloud momentum and meaningful progress across our device businesses,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. “We will continue to invest in high-growth opportunities and drive efficiencies across the organization to deliver long-term shareholder value.”

    Devices and Consumer revenue grew 47% to $10.96 billion, with the following business highlights:

    • Office 365 Home and Personal subscribers totaled more than 7 million, representing more than 25% sequential growth over the previous quarter.
    • Surface Pro 3 momentum drove Surface revenue of $908 million.
    • New Windows consumer licensing programs drove positive unit growth while OEM non-Pro revenue declined 1%.
    • Total Xbox console sales were 2.4 million, growing 102%, and Xbox One launched in 28 new markets.
    • Phone hardware revenue exceeded $2.6 billion with ongoing focus on execution discipline.

    Commercial revenue grew 10% to $12.28 billion, with the following business highlights:

    • Server products and services revenue increased 13%, with double-digit growth for SQL Server, System Center and Windows Server.
    • Office Commercial products and services revenue grew 5% as customers transition to Office 365.
    • Commercial cloud revenue grew 128% driven by Office 365, Azure and Dynamics CRM.
    • Lync, SharePoint and Exchange, our productivity server offerings, collectively grew double-digits.
    • Windows volume licensing revenue increased 10%.

    “Customers are embracing our latest technologies from Surface Pro 3 and Office 365 to Azure and SQL Server,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer of Microsoft. “Through great execution by our sales teams and our partners, we have been able to deliver our truly differentiated value to the marketplace.”

    Business Outlook

    Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.

    Webcast Details

    Satya Nadella, chief executive officer, Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Frank Brod, chief accounting officer, John Seethoff, deputy general counsel, and Chris Suh, general manager of Investor Relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PDT (5:30 p.m. EDT) today to discuss details of the company’s performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed athttp://www.microsoft.com/investor. The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on October 23, 2015.

    Noted Items Definition

    Integration and restructuring expenses include employee severance expenses and costs associated with the consolidation of facilities and manufacturing operations, including asset write-downs and contract termination costs, resulting from Microsoft’s restructuring plan. Integration and restructuring expenses also include systems consolidation and other business integration expenses, as well as transaction fees and direct acquisition costs, associated with the acquisition of NDS.

    Integration and restructuring expenses were $1.14 billion during the three months ended September 30, 2014, due mainly to restructuring charges of $1.05 billion, including employee severance expenses and the write-down of certain assets in connection with the restructuring plan.

    About Microsoft

    Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Statements in this release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as:

    • intense competition in all of Microsoft’s markets;
    • increasing focus on services presents execution and competitive risks;
    • significant investments in new products and services that may not be profitable;
    • acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances may have an adverse effect on our business;
    • impairment of goodwill or amortizable intangible assets causing a significant charge to earnings;
    • Microsoft’s continued ability to earn expected revenues from its intellectual property rights;
    • claims that Microsoft has infringed the intellectual property rights of others;
    • the possibility of unauthorized disclosure of significant portions of Microsoft’s source code;
    • cyber-attacks and security vulnerabilities in Microsoft products that could reduce revenue or lead to liability;
    • disclosure of personal data that could cause liability and harm to Microsoft’s reputation;
    • outages, data losses, and disruptions of our online services if we fail to maintain an adequate operations infrastructure;
    • government litigation and regulation that may limit how Microsoft designs and markets its products;
    • potential liability under anti-corruption and trade protection laws resulting from our international operations;
    • Microsoft’s ability to attract and retain talented employees;
    • adverse results in legal disputes;
    • unanticipated tax liabilities;
    • our hardware and software products may experience quality or supply problems;
    • exposure to increased economic and operational uncertainties from operating a global business;
    • catastrophic events or geo-political conditions may disrupt our business; and
    • adverse economic or market conditions may harm our business.

    For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft’s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft’s Investor Relations website at http://www.microsoft.com/investor.

    All information in this release is as of October 23, 2014. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.

    For more information, press only:

    Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, (503) 443-7070,rrt@waggeneredstrom.com

     

    For more information, financial analysts and investors only:

    Chris Suh, general manager, Investor Relations, (425) 706-4400

     

    Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news/. Web links, telephone numbers, and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. Shareholder and financial information, as well as today’s 2:30 p.m. PDT conference call with investors and analysts, is available at http://www.microsoft.com/investor.

     

     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

    INCOME STATEMENTS

    (In millions, except per share amounts)(Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended September 30,

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Revenue

     $         23,201

     $    18,529

    Cost of revenue

    8,273

    5,145

       Gross margin

    14,928

    13,384

    Research and development

    3,065

    2,767

    Sales and marketing

    3,728

    3,304

    General and administrative

    1,151

    979

    Integration and restructuring

    1,140

    0

    Operating income

    5,844

    6,334

    Other income, net

    52

    74

    Income before income taxes

    5,896

    6,408

    Provision for income taxes

    1,356

    1,164

    Net income

     $           4,540

     $      5,244

    Earnings per share:
       Basic

     $            0.55

     $       0.63

       Diluted

     $            0.54

     $       0.62

    Weighted average shares outstanding:
       Basic

    8,249

    8,339

       Diluted

    8,351

    8,434

    Cash dividends declared per common
    share

     $            0.31

     

     $       0.28

     

     

     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

    COMPREHENSIVE INCOME STATEMENTS

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended September 30,

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Net income

     $           4,540

     $      5,244

    Other comprehensive income (loss):
      Net unrealized gains (losses) on derivatives (net of
    tax effects of $4 and $(3))

    319

    (26)

      Net unrealized gains (losses) on investments (net of
    tax effects of $(102) and $492)

    (189)

    952

      Translation adjustments and other (net of tax effects
    of $(47) and $33)

    (81)

    62

           Other comprehensive income

    49

    988

    Comprehensive income

     $           4,589

     $      6,232

     

     

     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

    BALANCE SHEETS

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

     

    September 30,
    2014

     

    June 30, 2014

    Assets
    Current assets:
      Cash and cash equivalents

     $            6,302

     $      8,669

      Short-term investments (including securities
    loaned of $180 and $541)

    82,891

    77,040

        Total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term
    investments

    89,193

    85,709

      Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful
    accounts of $269 and $301

    12,887

    19,544

      Inventories

    3,141

    2,660

      Deferred income taxes

    1,784

    1,941

      Other

    5,434

    4,392

        Total current assets

    112,439

    114,246

    Property and equipment, net of accumulated
    depreciation of $15,373 and $14,793

    13,229

    13,011

    Equity and other investments

    13,943

    14,597

    Goodwill

    20,081

    20,127

    Intangible assets, net

    6,693

    6,981

    Other long-term assets

    3,271

    3,422

               Total assets

     $         169,656

     $  172,384

    Liabilities and stockholders’ equity
    Current liabilities:
      Accounts payable

     $            6,769

     $      7,432

      Short-term debt

    3,500

    2,000

      Current portion of long-term debt

    1,748

    0

      Accrued compensation

    3,740

    4,797

      Income taxes

    903

    782

      Short-term unearned revenue

    20,713

    23,150

      Securities lending payable

    191

    558

      Other

    7,130

    6,906

        Total current liabilities

    44,694

    45,625

    Long-term debt

    18,472

    20,645

    Long-term unearned revenue

    1,825

    2,008

    Deferred income taxes

    2,714

    2,728

    Other long-term liabilities

    11,781

    11,594

        Total liabilities

    79,486

    82,600

    Commitments and contingencies
    Stockholders’ equity:
      Common stock and paid-in capital – shares
    authorized 24,000; outstanding 8,255 and 8,239

    68,362

    68,366

      Retained earnings

    18,051

    17,710

      Accumulated other comprehensive income

    3,757

    3,708

        Total stockholders’ equity

    90,170

    89,784

               Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

     $         169,656

     $  172,384

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION  
     

    CASH FLOWS STATEMENTS

     

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

     
     

    Three Months Ended September 30,

     
     
     

    2014

     

    2013

     
    Operations  
    Net income

     $           4,540

     $      5,244

     
    Adjustments to reconcile net income
    to net cash from operations:
     
      Depreciation, amortization, and
    other

    1,428

    954

     
      Stock-based compensation
    expense

    646

    635

     
      Net recognized losses on
    investments and derivatives

    55

    93

     
      Excess tax benefits from
    stock-based compensation

    (502)

    (205)

     
      Deferred income taxes

    301

    404

     
      Deferral of unearned revenue

    8,022

    7,436

     
      Recognition of unearned revenue

    (10,643)

    (9,677)

     
      Changes in operating assets and
    liabilities:
     
        Accounts receivable

    6,627

    6,617

     
        Inventories

    (483)

    (667)

     
        Other current assets

    (280)

    (556)

     
        Other long-term assets

    279

    (81)

     
        Accounts payable

    (659)

    (276)

     
        Other current liabilities

    (1,166)

    (1,255)

     
        Other long-term liabilities

    189

    (461)

     
            Net cash from operations

    8,354

    8,205

     
    Financing  
    Proceeds from issuance of short-term debt,
    maturities of 90 days or less, net

    2,999

    712

     
    Proceeds from issuance of debt

    0

    588

     
    Repayments of debt

    (1,500)

    (1,000)

     
    Common stock issued

    216

    203

     
    Common stock repurchased

    (2,888)

    (2,188)

     
    Common stock cash dividends paid

    (2,307)

    (1,916)

     
    Excess tax benefits from
    stock-based compensation

    502

    205

     
            Net cash used in financing

    (2,978)

    (3,396)

     
    Investing  
    Additions to property and equipment

    (1,282)

    (1,231)

     
    Acquisition of companies, net of
    cash acquired, and purchases of
    intangible and other assets

    (141)

    (15)

     
    Purchases of investments

    (24,085)

    (14,768)

     
    Maturities of investments

    1,693

    347

     
    Sales of investments

    16,445

    11,117

     
    Securities lending payable

    (367)

    (64)

     
            Net cash used in investing

    (7,737)

    (4,614)

     
    Effect of exchange rates on cash
    and cash equivalents

    (6)

    24

     
    Net change in cash and cash
    equivalents

    (2,367)

    219

     
    Cash and cash equivalents,
    beginning of period

    8,669

    3,804

     
    Cash and cash equivalents, end of
    period

     $           6,302

     $      4,023

     

     

     

     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

     

     

     

    SEGMENT REVENUE AND GROSS MARGIN

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

     

    Three Months Ended September 30,

     
     

    2014

     

    2013

    Revenue

     

     

    Devices and Consumer Licensing

     $           4,093

     

     $      4,484

    Computing and Gaming Hardware

    2,453

     

    1,409

    Phone Hardware

    2,609

     

    0

    Devices and Consumer Other

    1,809

     

    1,554

    Commercial Licensing

    9,873

     

    9,611

    Commercial Other

    2,407

     

    1,602

    Corporate and Other

    (43)

     

    (131)

      Total revenue

     $         23,201

     

     $    18,529

     

     

     

    Gross Margin

     

     

    Devices and Consumer Licensing

     $           3,818

     

     $      3,920

    Computing and Gaming Hardware

    479

     

    205

    Phone Hardware

    478

     

    0

    Devices and Consumer Other

    312

     

    324

    Commercial Licensing

    9,100

     

    8,805

    Commercial Other

    805

     

    274

    Corporate and Other

    (64)

     

    (144)

      Total gross margin

     $         14,928

     

     $    13,384

     

    Image via Microsoft

  • Microsoft Initiates Another Round Of Layoffs

    Microsoft Initiates Another Round Of Layoffs

    Microsoft announced a couple months ago that it would reduce its overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs over the course of the next year, and that of those, 12,500 would be related to its acquisition of Nokia assets. The company was also said to be eliminating Xbox Entertainment Studios.

    Microsoft said it would begin with 13,000 eliminations, and that those affected would be notified within six months. Now, two months later, they’re cutting another 2,100.

    Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet reports:

    A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the 2,100 figure, noting that 747 of those laid off will be in Washington state. The remaining cuts will be at other Microsoft locations worldwide, the spokesperson said.

    Today’s cuts will be across a variety of teams, as previously rumored. The Microsoft spokesperson declined to specify which teams would bear the brunt of the latest round of cuts.

    Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that it is buying Mojang, the makers of Minecraft. Though the founders are leaving, most of the team is expected to reamain with the company under Microsoft.

    Mojang has close to fifty employees listed on its site, but notes that it may not be up to date, and could be missing new employees or support staff.

    Image: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (Microsoft)

  • Steve Ballmer Leaves Microsoft Board

    Steve Ballmer Leaves Microsoft Board

    Steve Ballmer announced that he is stepping down as a member of Microsoft’s Board of Directors. He resigned as CEO six months ago, handing the reins over to Satya Nadella, who has already laid out the company’s strategy going forward and announced the layoffs of 18,000 people.

    Last week, Ballmer officially became the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, buying the team for $2 billion, fresh off the Donald Sterling controversy.

    Microsoft has shared the resignation letter Ballmer sent to Nadella as well as Nadella’s response. Here are both in their entirety:

    Dear Satya,

    As I approach the six month mark of my retirement and your appointment as CEO, I have been reflecting on my life, my ongoing ownership of Microsoft stock, and my involvement with the company. I have reached some conclusions and wanted to share them with you. I know August is the key month during which the company starts to prepare the proxy statement for the next shareholders’ meeting, and so these thoughts are probably timely for that too.

    First, Microsoft has been my life’s work and I am proud of that and excited by what I see in front of the company and this leadership team. There are challenges ahead but the opportunities are even larger. No company in the world has the mix of software skills, cloud skills, and hardware skills we have assembled. We draw talent as well as any company in the world. We have the profitability to invest in long-term opportunities and still deliver superior shorter term performance. You’re off to a bold and exciting start.

    Microsoft will need to be bold and make big bets to succeed in this new environment. Writing great software is a tremendous accomplishment and selling software has been a fabulous business. In the mobile-first, cloud-first world, software development is a key skill, but success requires moving to monetization through enterprise subscriptions, hardware gross margins, and advertising revenues. Making that change while also managing the existing software business well requires a boldness and fearlessness that I believe the management team has. Our board must also support and encourage that fearlessness for shareholders to get the best performance from Microsoft. You must drive that.

    I had not spent any time really contemplating my post-Microsoft life until my last day with the company. In the six months since leaving, I have become very busy. I see a combination of the Clippers, civic contribution, teaching and study taking a lot of time. I have confidence in our approach of mobile-first, cloud-first, and in our primary innovation emphasis on platforms and productivity and the building of capability in devices and services as core business drivers. I hold more Microsoft shares than anyone other than index funds and love the mix of profits, investments and dividends returned in our stock. I expect to continue holding that position for the foreseeable future.

    Given my confidence and the multitude of new commitments I am taking on now, I think it would be impractical for me to continue to serve on the board, and it is best for me to move off. The fall will be hectic between teaching a new class and the start of the NBA season so my departure from the board is effective immediately.

    I bleed Microsoft — have for 34 years and I always will. I continue to love discussing the company’s future. I love trying new products and sending feedback. I love reading about what is going on at the company. Count on me to keep ideas and inputs flowing. The company will move to higher heights. I will be proud, and I will benefit through my share ownership. I promise to support and encourage boldness by management in my role as a shareholder in any way I can.

    All the best,

    Steve

    Satya Nadella response to Steve Ballmer

    Steve,

    First, thank you for all of your support during my transition this year and for the past 34 years. It’s been a great privilege to have worked with you and learned from you. Under your leadership, we created an incredible foundation that we continue to build on — and Microsoft will thrive in the mobile-first, cloud-first world.

    While your insights and leadership will be greatly missed as part of the board, I understand and support your decision.

    As you embark on your new journey, I am sure that you will bring the same boldness, passion and impact to your new endeavors that you brought to Microsoft, and we wish you incredible success. I also look forward to partnering with you as a shareholder.

    On behalf of all of Microsoft and the Board of Directors, thank you.

    Satya

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Microsoft To Offer One Operating System For All Screens

    Microsoft To Offer One Operating System For All Screens

    At some point in the future, Microsoft will offer its users a single operating system experience across all screens, making things a lot easier on application developers. Rather than having to worry about developing apps for Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox all separately, they’ll just be able to develop apps for this singular platform.

    That’s what we’re getting from CEO Satya Nadella’s words on the company’s earnings call on Tuesday. Here’s a look at the earnings report.

    Nadella is quoted as saying, “This means one operating system that covers all screen sizes,” Nadella said to analysts on the quarterly conference call. “We will streamline the next version of Windows from three operating systems into one single converged operating system for screens of all sizes.”

    As Business Insider notes, the company has been hinting at this strategy for months, having announced “Universal Windows Apps” developer tools at its conference in April.

    “In the past we had multiple teams working on different versions of Windows,” Nadella said. “Now we have one team with a common architecture. This allows us to scale, create Universal Windows Apps.”

    A couple weeks ago, Microsoft posted a huge internal email in which Nadella outlined the company’s overall strategy and “core” focus. The following week, he announced that Microsoft will be eliminating 18,000 jobs over the course of the next year (13,000 within six months).

    With multiple Windows teams being consolidated into one, it’s likely that a number of those cuts will be made within that group.

    You can find the transcript to the earnings call here.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Microsoft Earnings Released, Revenue $23.38 Billion

    Microsoft Earnings Released, Revenue $23.38 Billion

    Microsoft just released its earnings report for FY14 Q4 with revenue of $23.38 billion, gross margin of $15.79 billion, operating income of $6.48 billion, and diluted EPS of $0.55 per share.

    CEO Satya Nadella said, “We are galvanized around our core as a productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world, and we are driving growth with disciplined decisions, bold innovation, and focused execution. I’m proud that our aggressive move to the cloud is paying off – our commercial cloud revenue doubled again this year to a $4.4 billion annual run rate.”

    Last week, Nadella announced that the company is cutting 18,000 jobs over the next year, starting with 13,000 within the next six months. We’ve learned some areas where cuts will be made, but Nadella is expected to discuss the cuts more during the company’s earnings call this afternoon.

    Here’s the release in its entirety:

    REDMOND, Wash. — July 22, 2014 — Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $23.38 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2014. Gross margin, operating income, and diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) for the quarter were $15.79 billion, $6.48 billion, and $0.55 per share, respectively.

    Microsoft completed the acquisition of substantially all of the Nokia Devices and Services (“NDS”) business on April 25, 2014. Revenue and cost of revenue from the acquired business, including amortization of intangible assets, are reported in the new Phone Hardware segment. For the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014, the results of NDS contributed revenue, gross margin, operating income, and diluted EPS of $1.99 billion, $54 million, $(692) million, and $(0.08), respectively.

    “We are galvanized around our core as a productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world, and we are driving growth with disciplined decisions, bold innovation, and focused execution,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “I’m proud that our aggressive move to the cloud is paying off – our commercial cloud revenue doubled again this year to a $4.4 billion annual run rate.”

    “Our solid execution and expense discipline allowed us to deliver a strong finish to the fiscal year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Microsoft. “As we enter fiscal 2015, we are focused on aligning our resources to strategic investments that we believe will deliver the next wave of innovation, growth, and long-term shareholder value.”

    The following table reconciles these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) to Non-GAAP financial results. We have provided this Non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance. All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year.

    Three Months Ended June 30,

    ($ in millions, except per share amounts)

    Revenue

    Gross Margin

    Operating Income

    Diluted EPS

    2013 As Reported (GAAP)

    $19,896

    $14,294

    $6,073

    $0.59

    Office Upgrade Offer

    $(782)

    $(782)

    $(782)

    $(0.07)

    2013 As Adjusted (Non-GAAP)

    $19,114

    $13,512

    $5,291

    $0.52

    2014 As Reported (GAAP)¹

    $23,382

    $15,787

    $6,482

    $0.55

    %Y/Y (GAAP)

    18%

    10%

    7%

    (7)%

    %Y/Y (Non-GAAP)

    22%

    17%

    23%

    6%

    ¹Fiscal year 2014 includes the results of the NDS business for the period beginning on April 25, 2014.

     

    Additionally, we note below certain operational items that also impacted the company’s financial performance (“Noted Items”). Noted Items and the Non-GAAP measures are defined following the financial tables and highlights.

    Three Months Ended June 30,

    ($ in millions, except per share amounts)

    Revenue

    Gross Margin

    Operating Income

    Diluted EPS

    Surface RT Inventory Adjustments

    $(38)

    $(900)

    $(900)

    $(0.07)

    2013 Impact of Noted Items

    $(38)

    $(900)

    $(900)

    $(0.07)

    End of Nokia Commercial Agreement

    $382

    $382

    $382

    $0.04

    Integration and Restructuring

    $(127)

    $(0.02)

    Adjustment to Prior Years’ Taxes

    $(0.05)

    2014 Impact of Noted Items

    $382

    $382

    $255

    $(0.03)

     

    Devices and Consumer revenue grew 42% to $10.00 billion, with the following business highlights:

    • Windows OEM revenue grew 3%, driven by 11% growth in Windows OEM Pro revenue.
    • Office 365 Home and Personal subscribers totaled more than 5.6 million, adding more than 1 million subscribers again this quarter.
    • The acquired Phone Hardware business contributed $1.99 billion to current year revenue.
    • Bing search advertising revenue grew 40%, and U.S. search share grew to 19.2%.

    Commercial revenue grew 11% to $13.48 billion, with the following business highlights:

    • Commercial cloud revenue grew 147% with an annualized run rate that exceeds $4.4 billion.
    • Windows volume licensing revenue grew 11%.
    • Server products revenue, including Azure, grew 16%, with double-digit growth for SQL Server and System Center.

    “Our results reflect our customers’ long-term commitments to our products and services, and strong execution by our field teams. We are thrilled with the tremendous momentum of our cloud offerings with Office 365 and Azure both growing over 100% again,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. “Looking forward, we are excited by the amazing opportunities enabled by our technology roadmap and our strong engagement across partners, customers, and developers.”

    For Microsoft’s fiscal year 2014, the company’s revenue, gross margin, operating income, and diluted EPS were $86.83 billion, $59.90 billion, $27.76 billion, and $2.63 per share, respectively.

    The following table reconciles these financial results reported in accordance with GAAP to Non-GAAP financial results. We have provided this Non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance.

    Twelve Months Ended June 30,

    ($ in millions, except per share amounts)

    Revenue

    Gross Margin

    Operating Income

    Diluted EPS

    2013 As Reported (GAAP)

    $77,849

    $57,600

    $26,764

    $2.58

    Windows Upgrade Offer

    $(540)

    $(540)

    $(540)

    $(0.05)

    European Commission Fine

    $733

    $0.09

    2013 As Adjusted (Non-GAAP)

    $77,309

    $57,060

    $26,957

    $2.62

    2014 As Reported (GAAP)1

    $86,833

    $59,899

    $27,759

    $2.63

    %Y/Y (GAAP)

    12%

    4%

    4%

    2%

    %Y/Y (Non-GAAP)

    12%

    5%

    3%

    0%

    ¹Fiscal year 2014 includes the results of the NDS business for the period beginning on April 25, 2014.

    The impact of Noted Items on the financial results was the same for the fourth quarter and for fiscal year 2014.

    Business Outlook

    Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.

    On July 17, 2014, Microsoft announced a restructuring plan to streamline and simplify its operations and align the recently acquired NDS business with the company’s overall strategy. The pre-tax costs associated with this plan are estimated to be between $1.1 billion and $1.6 billion and will be recorded in fiscal year 2015, substantially in the first half of the fiscal year.

    Webcast Details

    Satya Nadella, chief executive officer, Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Frank Brod, chief accounting officer, John Seethoff, deputy general counsel, and Chris Suh, general manager of Investor Relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PDT (5:30 p.m. EDT) today to discuss details of the company’s performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed athttp://www.microsoft.com/investor. The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on July 22, 2015.

    Adjusted Financial Results and Non-GAAP Measures

    During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, GAAP revenue, gross margin, operating income, and diluted EPS included the recognition of previously deferred revenue for the Office Upgrade Offer. For fiscal year 2013, the financial results included the recognition of previously deferred revenue related to the Windows Upgrade Offer as well as the European Commission Fine. These items are defined below. In addition to these financial results reported in accordance with GAAP, we have provided certain Non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance. Presenting these measures without the impact of these items gives additional insight into operational performance and helps clarify trends affecting the company’s business. For comparability of reporting, management considers this information in conjunction with GAAP amounts in evaluating business performance. These Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

    Non-GAAP Definitions

    Revenue recognition of $782 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013 related to the revenue deferred on sales of the previous version of the Microsoft Office system with a guarantee to be upgraded to the new Office at minimal or no cost (“Office Upgrade Offer”).

    Revenue recognition of $540 million in fiscal year 2013 related to the revenue deferred on sales of Windows 7 with an option to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro at a discounted price (“Windows Upgrade Offer”).

    Fine of €561 million ($733 million) assessed by the European Commission in the third quarter of fiscal year 2013 for violation of an order to provide a browser choice screen with Internet Explorer on PCs sold in Europe (“European Commission Fine”).

    Noted Items Definitions

    Charge of $900 million recorded in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013 for Surface RT Inventory Adjustments (“Surface RT Inventory Adjustments”).

    Revenue recognition of $382 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014 from the contractual relationship between Nokia and Microsoft related to joint strategic initiatives which was terminated in conjunction with the acquisition of substantially all of the NDS business (“End of Nokia Commercial Agreement”).

    Expenses of $127 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014 associated with the acquisition and integration of NDS. These expenses consist of transaction fees and direct acquisition costs, including legal, finance, consulting and other professional fees. These costs also include employee compensation and termination costs associated with certain reorganization activities (“Integration and Restructuring”).

    Tax provision adjustment of $458 million, or a $(0.05) per share impact, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 related to adjustments to prior years’ liabilities for intercompany transfer pricing that increased taxable income in more highly taxed jurisdictions (“Adjustment to Prior Years’ Taxes”).

    About Microsoft

    Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Statements in this release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as:

    • intense competition in all of Microsoft’s markets;
    • increasing focus on services presents execution and competitive risks;
    • significant investments in new products and services that may not be profitable;
    • acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances may have an adverse effect on our business;
    • impairment of goodwill or amortizable intangible assets causing a significant charge to earnings;
    • Microsoft’s continued ability to protect its intellectual property rights;
    • claims that Microsoft has infringed the intellectual property rights of others;
    • the possibility of unauthorized disclosure of significant portions of Microsoft’s source code;
    • cyber-attacks and security vulnerabilities in Microsoft products that could reduce revenue or lead to liability;
    • disclosure of personal data that could cause liability and harm to Microsoft’s reputation;
    • outages, data losses, and disruptions of our online services if we fail to maintain an adequate operations infrastructure;
    • government litigation and regulation that may limit how Microsoft designs and markets its products;
    • potential liability under trade protection and anti-corruption laws resulting from our international operations;
    • Microsoft’s ability to attract and retain talented employees;
    • adverse results in legal disputes;
    • unanticipated tax liabilities;
    • our hardware and software products may experience quality or supply problems;
    • exposure to increased economic and operational uncertainties from operating a global business;
    • catastrophic events or geo-political conditions may disrupt our business; and
    • adverse economic or market conditions may harm our business.

    For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft’s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft’s Investor Relations website at http://www.microsoft.com/investor.

    All information in this release is as of July 22, 2014. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.

    For more information, press only:

    Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, (503) 443-7070,rrt@waggeneredstrom.com

     

    For more information, financial analysts and investors only:

    Chris Suh, general manager, Investor Relations, (425) 706-4400

     

    Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news/. Web links, telephone numbers, and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. Shareholder and financial information, as well as today’s 2:30 p.m. PDT conference call with investors and analysts, is available at http://www.microsoft.com/investor.

     

    INCOME STATEMENTS

    (In millions, except per share amounts)(Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended June 30,

    Twelve Months Ended June 30,

     

    2014

     

    2013

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Revenue

     $   23,382

     $19,896

     $    86,833

     $77,849

    Cost of revenue

    7,595

    5,602

    26,934

    20,249

       Gross margin

    15,787

    14,294

    59,899

    57,600

    Research and development

    3,123

    2,783

    11,381

    10,411

    Sales and marketing

    4,682

    4,228

    15,811

    15,276

    General and administrative

    1,373

    1,210

    4,821

    5,149

    Integration and restructuring

    127

    0

    127

    0

    Operating income

    6,482

    6,073

    27,759

    26,764

    Other income, net

    95

    72

    61

    288

    Income before income taxes

    6,577

    6,145

    27,820

    27,052

    Provision for income taxes

    1,965

    1,180

    5,746

    5,189

    Net income

     $     4,612

     $  4,965

     $    22,074

     $21,863

    Earnings per share:
       Basic

     $      0.56

     $    0.59

     $        2.66

     $    2.61

       Diluted

     $      0.55

     $    0.59

     $        2.63

     $    2.58

    Weighted average shares outstanding:
       Basic

    8,246

    8,345

    8,299

    8,375

       Diluted

    8,345

    8,442

    8,399

    8,470

    Cash dividends declared per
    common share

     $      0.28

     

     $    0.23

     $        1.12

     

     $    0.92

     

    COMPREHENSIVE INCOME STATEMENTS

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended June 30,

    Twelve Months Ended June 30,

     

    2014

     

    2013

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Net income

     $     4,612

     $  4,965

     $    22,074

     $21,863

    Other comprehensive income (loss):
       Net unrealized losses on
    derivatives (net of tax effects
    of $(3), $(4), $(4)
    and $(14))

    (21)

    (7)

    (35)

    (26)

       Net unrealized gains (losses) on
    investments (net of tax
    effects of $162, $(206),
    $936 and $195)

    235

    (381)

    1,737

    363

       Translation adjustments and
    other (net of tax effects
    of $(41), $(40), $12
    and $(8))

    162

    (74)

    263

    (16)

          Other comprehensive income
    (loss)

    376

    (462)

    1,965

    321

    Comprehensive income

     $     4,988

     $  4,503

     $    24,039

     $22,184

     

    BALANCE SHEETS

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

     

    June 30,
    2014

     

    June 30, 2013

    Assets
    Current assets:
      Cash and cash equivalents

     $           8,669

     $      3,804

      Short-term investments (including securities
    loaned of $541 and $579)

    77,040

    73,218

        Total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term
    investments

    85,709

    77,022

      Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful
    accounts of $301 and $336

    19,544

    17,486

      Inventories

    2,660

    1,938

      Deferred income taxes

    1,941

    1,632

      Other

    4,392

    3,388

        Total current assets

    114,246

    101,466

    Property and equipment, net of accumulated
    depreciation of $14,793 and $12,513

    13,011

    9,991

    Equity and other investments

    14,597

    10,844

    Goodwill

    20,127

    14,655

    Intangible assets, net

    6,981

    3,083

    Other long-term assets

    3,422

    2,392

               Total assets

     $       172,384

     $  142,431

    Liabilities and stockholders’ equity
    Current liabilities:
      Accounts payable

     $           7,432

     $      4,828

      Short-term debt

    2,000

    0

      Current portion of long-term debt

    0

    2,999

      Accrued compensation

    4,797

    4,117

      Income taxes

    782

    592

      Short-term unearned revenue

    23,150

    20,639

      Securities lending payable

    558

    645

      Other

    6,906

    3,597

        Total current liabilities

    45,625

    37,417

    Long-term debt

    20,645

    12,601

    Long-term unearned revenue

    2,008

    1,760

    Deferred income taxes

    2,728

    1,709

    Other long-term liabilities

    11,594

    10,000

        Total liabilities

    82,600

    63,487

    Commitments and contingencies
    Stockholders’ equity:
      Common stock and paid-in capital – shares
    authorized 24,000; outstanding 8,239 and 8,328

    68,366

    67,306

      Retained earnings

    17,710

    9,895

      Accumulated other comprehensive income

    3,708

    1,743

        Total stockholders’ equity

    89,784

    78,944

               Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

     $       172,384

     $  142,431

     

    CASH FLOWS STATEMENTS

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended June 30,

    Twelve Months Ended June 30,

     

    2014

     

    2013

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Operations
    Net income

     $     4,612

     $  4,965

     $    22,074

     $21,863

    Adjustments to reconcile net
    income to net cash from
    operations:
       Depreciation, amortization, and
    other

    1,742

    983

    5,212

    3,755

       Stock-based compensation
    expense

    618

    601

    2,446

    2,406

       Net recognized losses (gains)
    on investments and
    derivatives

    (209)

    99

    (109)

    80

       Excess tax benefits from
    stock-based compensation

    (24)

    (17)

    (271)

    (209)

       Deferred income taxes

    (369)

    (423)

    (331)

    (19)

       Deferral of unearned revenue

    16,869

    15,621

    44,325

    44,253

       Recognition of unearned
    revenue

    (11,345)

    (11,069)

    (41,739)

    (41,921)

       Changes in operating assets
    and liabilities:
          Accounts receivable

    (5,363)

    (5,666)

    (1,120)

    (1,807)

          Inventories

    (199)

    187

    (161)

    (802)

          Other current assets

    282

    (33)

    (29)

    (129)

          Other long-term assets

    (159)

    (152)

    (628)

    (478)

          Accounts payable

    863

    486

    473

    537

          Other current liabilities

    1,072

    27

    1,075

    146

          Other long-term liabilities

    1,124

    294

    1,014

    1,158

             Net cash from operations

    9,514

    5,903

    32,231

    28,833

    Financing
    Proceeds from issuance of
    short-term debt, maturities of
    90 days or less, net

    500

    0

    500

    0

    Proceeds from issuance of debt

    1,500

    2,651

    10,350

    4,883

    Repayments of debt

    (2,000)

    (1,346)

    (3,888)

    (1,346)

    Common stock issued

    146

    166

    607

    931

    Common stock repurchased

    (1,170)

    (1,042)

    (7,316)

    (5,360)

    Common stock cash dividends paid

    (2,309)

    (1,921)

    (8,879)

    (7,455)

    Excess tax benefits from
    stock-based compensation

    24

    17

    271

    209

    Other

    0

    6

    (39)

    (10)

             Net cash used in financing

    (3,309)

    (1,469)

    (8,394)

    (8,148)

    Investing
    Additions to property and
    equipment

    (1,330)

    (1,794)

    (5,485)

    (4,257)

    Acquisition of companies, net of
    cash acquired, and purchases of
    intangible and other assets

    (5,626)

    (20)

    (5,937)

    (1,584)

    Purchases of investments

    (23,473)

    (27,024)

    (72,690)

    (75,396)

    Maturities of investments

    1,138

    617

    5,272

    5,130

    Sales of investments

    20,617

    22,301

    60,094

    52,464

    Securities lending payable

    (236)

    81

    (87)

    (168)

             Net cash used in investing

    (8,910)

    (5,839)

    (18,833)

    (23,811)

    Effect of exchange rates on cash
    and cash equivalents

    (198)

    (31)

    (139)

    (8)

    Net change in cash and cash
    equivalents

    (2,903)

    (1,436)

    4,865

    (3,134)

    Cash and cash equivalents,
    beginning of period

    11,572

    5,240

    3,804

    6,938

    Cash and cash equivalents, end of
    period

     $     8,669

     $  3,804

     $      8,669

     $  3,804

     

     

     

     

     

    SEGMENT REVENUE AND GROSS MARGIN

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

     

    Three Months Ended June 30,

     

    Twelve Months Ended June 30,

     

     

     

    2014

     

    2013

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Revenue

     

     

     

     

     

    Devices and Consumer Licensing

     $     4,694

     

     $  4,288

     

     $   18,803

     

     $19,021

    Computing and Gaming Hardware

    1,441

     

    1,167

     

    9,628

     

    6,461

    Phone Hardware

    1,985

     

    0

     

    1,985

     

    0

    Devices and Consumer Other

    1,880

     

    1,563

     

    7,258

     

    6,618

    Commercial Licensing

    11,222

     

    10,627

     

    42,027

     

    39,686

    Commercial Other

    2,262

     

    1,574

     

    7,547

     

    5,660

    Corporate and Other

    (102)

     

    677

     

    (415)

     

    403

      Total revenue

     $   23,382

     

     $19,896

     

     $   86,833

     

     $77,849

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Gross Margin

     

     

     

     

     

    Devices and Consumer Licensing

     $     4,407

     

     $  3,881

     

     $   17,216

     

     $17,044

    Computing and Gaming Hardware

    18

     

    (647)

     

    893

     

    956

    Phone Hardware

    54

     

    0

     

    54

     

    0

    Devices and Consumer Other

    446

     

    368

     

    1,770

     

    2,046

    Commercial Licensing

    10,296

     

    9,667

     

    38,604

     

    36,261

    Commercial Other

    691

     

    336

     

    1,856

     

    921

    Corporate and Other

    (125)

     

    689

     

    (494)

     

    372

      Total gross margin

     $   15,787

     

     $14,294

     

     $   59,899

     

     $57,600

     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

    FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

    All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year.  Please refer to the reconciliation of our GAAP and Non-GAAP financial results, and the Noted Items table provided above for additional information.

    SUMMARY

    Nokia Devices and Services Acquisition

    On April 25, 2014, we acquired substantially all of Nokia’s Devices and Services business (the acquired assets and operations are hereafter referred to as “NDS”).  Beginning on that date, we reported the revenue and cost of revenue from NDS, including amortization of intangible assets, in the new Phone Hardware segment.  For the fourth quarter, the results of NDS impacted revenue, gross margin, operating income, and diluted EPS by $1.99 billion, $54 million, $(692) million, and $(0.08), respectively.

    Operating Summary

    Revenue was $23.38 billion, up 18% year-over-year.  Non-GAAP revenue grew 22%.  As described in the Noted Items table, prior year revenue was decreased by $38 million and current year revenue was increased by $382 million.  Additionally, NDS contributed $1.99 billion to current year revenue.

    Gross margin was $15.79 billion, up 10% year-over-year.  Non-GAAP gross margin grew 17%.  As described in the Noted Items table, prior year gross margin was decreased by $900 million and current year gross margin was increased by $382 million.  Additionally, NDS contributed $54 million to current year gross margin.

    Operating income was $6.48 billion, up 7% year-over-year.  Non-GAAP operating income grew 23%.  As described in the Noted Items table, prior year operating income was decreased by $900 million and current year operating income was increased by $255 million.  Additionally, NDS contributed $(692) million to current year operating income.

    Diluted EPS was $0.55, down 7% year-over-year.  Non-GAAP diluted EPS grew 6%.  As described in the Noted Items table, prior year diluted EPS was decreased by $0.07 and current year diluted EPS was decreased by $0.03.  Additionally, NDS contributed $(0.08) to current year diluted EPS.

    SEGMENT INFORMATION

    Devices and Consumer (“D&C”)

    Total D&C revenue increased $2.98 billion or 42%, including $1.99 billion of Phone Hardware revenue following the completion of the NDS acquisition.  D&C gross margin increased $1.32 billion or 37% over the prior year, which included the Surface RT inventory adjustment charge of approximately $900 million.

    D&C Licensing

    D&C Licensing revenue increased $406 million or 9%, due to the recognition of $382 million from the conclusion of the commercial agreement with Nokia and higher revenue from Office Consumer and Windows OEM, offset by a decline in royalty revenue.  Gross margin increased $526 million or 14%.

    • Windows OEM revenue increased 3%, as Windows OEM Pro revenue increased 11% and Windows OEM non-Pro revenue decreased 9%.  Businesses continue to demonstrate their strong preference for Windows, and D&C Licensing results were again driven by business PC growth in developed markets, and benefits from Windows XP end of support that moderated throughout the quarter.
    • Office Consumer revenue increased $125 million or 21%.  We continue to outpace overall consumer PCs as developed markets, where more consumers buy Office with their PCs, outperformed emerging markets.  Microsoft ended support for Windows XP in April 2014, which also contributed to our growth, as small businesses upgraded their PCs and purchased new versions of Office through consumer channels.

    With free licensing for sub 9-inch devices and the new Windows with Bing offering, we are helping our partners bring new low-cost devices to market.  We are encouraged by the initial response from OEMs, and expect many of these new devices to be available in time for the holiday season.  During Computex in June, our OEM partners announced nearly 40 new devices, including all-in-ones, laptops, two-in-ones, and smartphones, demonstrating continued innovation on the Windows platform.

    Computing and Gaming Hardware

    The D&C Hardware segment was renamed Computing and Gaming Hardware in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014.  Computing and Gaming Hardware revenue increased $274 million or 23%, driven by higher Surface and Xbox Platform revenue.  Gross margin increased $665 million compared to the prior year, which included the Surface RT inventory adjustment charge.  Current year cost of revenue included Surface inventory adjustments resulting from our transition to newer generation devices and a decision to not ship a new form factor.

    • Surface revenue was $409 million, driven by our second generation Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 devices, and the recent launch of Surface Pro 3.
    • Xbox Platform revenue increased $104 million or 14%, driven primarily by increased console revenue.  We sold in 1.1 million consoles in the fourth quarter, as we drew down channel inventory, compared to 1.0 million consoles during the prior year.

    We launched Surface Pro 3 in the U.S. and Canada on June 20, and it will roll out to additional markets beginning in the first quarter of fiscal year 2015.  This new device is optimized for productivity and highlights the progress we have made bringing hardware and software together.

    During the E3 conference in early June, we highlighted several new titles that will be available exclusively on the Xbox Platform.  We also launched a lower-priced console without the Kinect sensor to provide additional choice to our customers, and are planning to offer Xbox One in additional markets beginning this fall.

    Phone Hardware

    Phone Hardware revenue was $1.99 billion, reflecting sales of Lumia Smartphones and other first-party non-Lumia phones following completion of the NDS acquisition.  Cost of revenue was $1.93 billion, including amortization of acquired intangible assets and the impact of decisions to rationalize our device portfolio, resulting in gross margin of $54 million.

    • We sold 5.8 million Lumia Smartphones, and 30.3 million non-Lumia phones following the completion of the NDS acquisition.  Low price point devices drove a majority of the Lumia Smartphone volumes.  Non-Lumia phone volumes performed in line with the market for this category of devices.

    D&C Other

    D&C Other revenue increased $317 million or 20%, due mainly to increases in search revenue and Office 365 Consumer subscriptions.  Gross margin increased $78 million or 21%.

    • We continue to see strong adoption of Office 365 Home and Personal offerings, which added more than 1 million subscribers in the fourth quarter to total more than 5.6 million.
    • Search revenue increased 40%, offset by an 11% decline in display revenue.  Growth in search advertising revenue was due to higher revenue per search (“RPS”), increased search volume, and the expiration of North American RPS guarantee payments to Yahoo! in the prior year.  U.S. search share grew again to 19.2%.

    Our Bing platform continues to accrue value across our portfolio of products and services.  The Bing search index is helping power several of our offerings, including the Cortana digital assistant, Xbox, and Power BI.  Bing was also chosen as the default search provider for the upcoming release of Apple’s new OS X, providing additional opportunities to monetize the service.

    Commercial

    Commercial revenue increased $1.28 billion or 11%, driven by growth in both our Commercial Licensing businesses and Commercial cloud services.  Server products revenue, including Microsoft Azure, grew 16%, and Office Commercial revenue, including Office 365, grew 4%. Commercial gross margin increased $984 million or 10%.

    During the quarter, we made several key product and partnership announcements that further enhance the value of our public and private cloud offerings.  The product enhancements we announced focused on hybrid cloud scenarios, protection of cloud data, and the experience for app developers.  We also announced strategic partnerships with SAP and salesforce.com that help improve customer productivity by expanding the interoperability of our cloud services with solutions from other providers.

    Commercial Licensing

    Commercial Licensing revenue increased $595 million or 6%, due primarily to higher revenue from our server products and Windows Commercial, offset in part by lower revenue from on-premises Office products, as customers transition to Office 365 Commercial.  Gross margin increased $629 million or 7%, in line with revenue growth.

    • Our server products revenue grew $577 million or 14%, driven by double-digit growth in SQL Server, System Center, and the premium version of Windows Server.
    • Windows Commercial revenue grew $104 million or 11%, driven by growth in annuity and non-annuity revenue.

    Commercial Other

    Commercial Other revenue increased $688 million or 44%, due to higher Commercial cloud services and Enterprise Services revenue.  Gross margin increased $355 million or 106%.  We delivered another quarter of margin expansion as we continue to realize engineering efficiencies and scale benefits.

    • Commercial cloud services revenue grew $564 million or 147%, driven by continued triple-digit growth in Commercial Office 365 and Microsoft Azure.  The annual run rate for our Commercial cloud business now exceeds $4.4 billion.
    • Enterprise Services revenue grew $125 million or 11%, due primarily to growth in Premier Support Services.

    EXPENSES

    • Cost of revenue increased $1.99 billion or 36%.  The results from NDS contributed $1.93 billion to this increase.
    • Research and development expenses increased $340 million or 12%.  The results from NDS contributed $275 million to this increase.
    • Sales and marketing expenses increased $454 million or 11%.  The results from NDS contributed $394 million to this increase.
    • General and administrative expenses increased $163 million or 13%. The results from NDS contributed $77 million to this increase.
    • Integration and restructuring expenses associated with the acquisition of NDS were $127 million.

    INCOME TAXES

    The effective tax rate was 30% for the quarter, compared to 19% in the prior year.  The year-over-year increase was due primarily to adjustments to prior years’ liabilities for intercompany transfer pricing that increased taxable income in more highly taxed jurisdictions, as well as losses incurred by NDS and changes in the geographic mix of our business.

    BALANCE SHEET AND CASH FLOWS

    Cash flows from operations were $9.51 billion, up 61%.  Cash returned to shareholders through buybacks and dividends was $3.43 billion for the quarter.  Capital expenditures were $1.33 billion, supporting the global expansion of our cloud services.

    UNEARNED REVENUE, CONTRACTED NOT BILLED, AND BOOKINGS

    The following table outlines unearned revenue by segment:

    (In millions)            

     

     
    June 30,  

    2014

       

    2013

     
       

     

     

     

    Commercial Licensing  

    $

    19,099

     

    $

    18,460

    Commercial Other  

     

    3,934

     

    2,272

    Rest of the segments  

     

    2,125

     

    1,667

     

     

     

     

    Total  

    $

    25,158

     

    $

    22,399

     

    Our contracted not billed balance exceeded $24 billion, and total bookings increased 29%.  The results from NDS contributed 9 percentage points to total bookings growth.  We continue to see healthy renewals of expiring multi-year agreements as customers make long-term commitments to our products and services.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Microsoft Is Officially Cutting 18,000 Jobs

    Microsoft Is Officially Cutting 18,000 Jobs

    It’s been rumored that Microsoft would be cutting some jobs – specifically some from its acquisition of Nokia assets. Now, official word from the company on the matter is out.

    CEO Satya Nadella said in an email to employees, which the company made public, that Microsoft will begin reducing its overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs within the next year. Of that, 12,500 are related to Nokia, and will include professional and factory workers. The company says it’s starting the process of eliminating 13,000 jobs, and that those affected will be notified within six months.

    Not exactly like ripping off a Band-Aid.

    Nadella does note that while it’s eliminating positions, it’s also creating others, though he doesn’t give any numbers on that, and we’re guessing the number is far from 18,000.

    The company is providing affected employees with severance and “job transition help.”

    Nadella tells employees that they’ll learn more about what to expect later today, so more details will probably emerge in the public from that He also says more details will be revealed on the company’s upcoming earnings call on July 22nd.

    Below is the email in its entirety:

    From: Satya Nadella

    To: All Employees

    Date: July 17, 2014 at 5:00 a.m. PT

    Subject: Starting to Evolve Our Organization and Culture

    Last week in my email to you I synthesized our strategic direction as a productivity and platform company. Having a clear focus is the start of the journey, not the end. The more difficult steps are creating the organization and culture to bring our ambitions to life. Today I’ll share more on how we’re moving forward. On July 22, during our public earnings call, I’ll share further specifics on where we are focusing our innovation investments.

    The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year. Of that total, our work toward synergies and strategic alignment on Nokia Devices and Services is expected to account for about 12,500 jobs, comprising both professional and factory workers. We are moving now to start reducing the first 13,000 positions, and the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be eliminated will be notified over the next six months. It’s important to note that while we are eliminating roles in some areas, we are adding roles in certain other strategic areas. My promise to you is that we will go through this process in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible. We will offer severance to all employees impacted by these changes, as well as job transition help in many locations, and everyone can expect to be treated with the respect they deserve for their contributions to this company.

    Later today your Senior Leadership Team member will share more on what to expect in your organization. Our workforce reductions are mainly driven by two outcomes: work simplification as well as Nokia Devices and Services integration synergies and strategic alignment.

    First, we will simplify the way we work to drive greater accountability, become more agile and move faster. As part of modernizing our engineering processes the expectations we have from each of our disciplines will change. In addition, we plan to have fewer layers of management, both top down and sideways, to accelerate the flow of information and decision making. This includes flattening organizations and increasing the span of control of people managers. In addition, our business processes and support models will be more lean and efficient with greater trust between teams. The overall result of these changes will be more productive, impactful teams across Microsoft. These changes will affect both the Microsoft workforce and our vendor staff. Each organization is starting at different points and moving at different paces.

    Second, we are working to integrate the Nokia Devices and Services teams into Microsoft. We will realize the synergies to which we committed when we announced the acquisition last September. The first-party phone portfolio will align to Microsoft’s strategic direction. To win in the higher price tiers, we will focus on breakthrough innovation that expresses and enlivens Microsoft’s digital work and digital life experiences. In addition, we plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows. This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps.

    Making these decisions to change are difficult, but necessary. I want to invite you to my monthly Q&A event tomorrow. I hope you can join, and I hope you will ask any question that’s on your mind. Thank you for your support as we start to take steps forward in evolving our organization and culture.

    Satya

    Image: Nadella and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (Microsoft)

  • Satya Nadella Talks About Microsoft’s ‘Core’

    Satya Nadella Talks About Microsoft’s ‘Core’

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote a big letter to staff, which the company has shared on its blog. It’s called “Bold Ambition & Our Core,” and marks the beginning of Microsoft’s Fiscal Year 2015.

    In the part about the company’s core, Nadella writes:

    At our core, Microsoft is the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world. We will reinvent productivity to empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more and achieve more.

    We think about productivity for people, teams and the business processes of entire organizations as one interconnected digital substrate. We also think about interconnected platforms for individuals, IT and developers. This comprehensive view enables us to solve the more complex, nuanced and real-world day-to-day challenges in an increasingly digital world. It also opens the door to massive growth opportunity – technology spend as a total percentage of GDP will grow with the digitization of nearly everything in life and work.

    We will reinvent productivity for people who are swimming in a growing sea of devices, apps, data and social networks. We will build the solutions that address the productivity needs of groups and entire organizations as well as individuals by putting them at the center of their computing experiences. We will shift the meaning of productivity beyond solely producing something to include empowering people with new insights. We will build tools to be more predictive, personal and helpful. We will enable organizations to move from automated business processes to intelligent business processes. Every experience Microsoft builds will understand the rich context of an individual at work and in life to help them organize and accomplish things with ease.

    He says the company will think of every user as a potential “dual user,” which he describes as someone who uses technology for work or school, and also in their personal life. He says Microsoft will “obsess” over reinventing productivity and platforms.

    He goes on to discuss each of the following categories separately: Cloud OS, Digital Work & Life Experiences, and Device OS & Hardware. These are the elements that make up the “core”. He then talks about Xbox:

    As a large company, I think it’s critical to define the core, but it’s important to make smart choices on other businesses in which we can have fundamental impact and success. The single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world is gaming. We are fortunate to have Xbox in our family to go after this opportunity with unique and bold innovation. Microsoft will continue to vigorously innovate and delight gamers with Xbox. Xbox is one of the most-revered consumer brands, with a growing online community and service, and a raving fan base. We also benefit from many technologies flowing from our gaming efforts into our productivity efforts – core graphics and NUI in Windows, speech recognition in Skype, camera technology in Kinect for Windows, Azure cloud enhancements for GPU simulation and many more. Bottom line, we will continue to innovate and grow our fan base with Xbox while also creating additive business value for Microsoft.

    This is all really just scratching the surface of Nadella’s lengthy letter, and I’d suggest reading the whole thing if you’re interested in Microsoft’s current corporate vision.

    Microsoft will announce its earnings results for the past quarter on July 22nd, and we should hear plenty more from Nadella at that time.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Microsoft Now Officially Owns Nokia’s Devices & Services Business

    Well, it’s official. Microsoft announced on Friday (as expected) that it has completed its acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services business. It’s been approved by shareholders, and all the government regulatory bodies.

    Microsoft can now go forward full-throttle with its plans for the buy.

    CEO Satya Nadella said, “Today we welcome the Nokia Devices and Services business to our family. The mobile capabilities and assets they bring will advance our transformation. Together with our partners, we remain focused on delivering innovation more rapidly in our mobile-first, cloud-first world.”

    Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop will now report directly to Nadella, and will serve as executive vice president of the Microsoft Devices Group. He will oversee the business, which includes Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel (PPI) products, and accessories.

    The company is also getting experienced personnel in over 130 locations in 50 countries, including at factories.

    “Nokia certainly has a tremendous depth of experience in the design, the manufacturing and delivery of devices,” Elop said. “Nokia over the years has literally delivered billions of devices. Just in the last year alone, some hundreds of millions.”

    The two companies have been partners for over two years, building Windows Phone-based devices, so it’s not as if they’re going to have to face any major obstacles in building and working together.


    Pictured: Nadella (left) and Elop (right)

    In its announcement, Microsoft says:

    Microsoft will continue to deliver new value and opportunity, and it will work closely with a range of hardware partners, developers, operators, distributors and retailers, providing platforms, tools, applications and services that enable them to make exceptional devices. With a deeper understanding of hardware and software working as one, the company will strengthen and grow demand for Windows devices overall.

    As with any multinational agreement of this size, scale and complexity, Microsoft and Nokia have made adjustments to the deal throughout the close preparation process. As announced previously, Microsoft will not acquire the factory in Masan, South Korea, and the factory in Chennai, India, will stay with Nokia due to the tax liens on Nokia’s assets in India that prevent transfer. As a result, Microsoft will welcome approximately 25,000 transferring employees from around the world.

    Microsoft notes the obvious in that the acquisition will allow it to accelerate its share of smartphones and feature phones, and certainly does so instantly.

    “The opportunity for Microsoft to be both a devices and services company, so that it can deliver the complete proposition to its consumers, is at the heart of this,” Elop said.

    Microsoft reminds Nokia customers that it will honor all existing warranties.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Microsoft Earnings Released, Revenue $20.4 Billion

    Microsoft just released its earnings report for its fiscal year 2014 Q3. Revenue was $20.4 billion for the quarter ended March 31st. The company managed to pretty much meet analysts’ expectations.

    New CEO Satya Nadella said, “This quarter’s results demonstrate the strength of our business, as well as the opportunities we see in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. We are making good progress in our consumer services like Bing and Office 365 Home, and our commercial customers continue to embrace our cloud solutions. Both position us well for long-term growth,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “We are focused on executing rapidly and delivering bold, innovative products that people love to use.”

    For you search enthusiasts, the company said Bing U.S. search share grew to 18.6%, and search advertising revenue grew 38%.

    Here’s the release in its entirety:

    REDMOND, Wash. — April 24, 2014 — Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $20.40 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2014. Gross margin, operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $14.46 billion, $6.97 billion, $5.66 billion, and $0.68 per share, respectively.

    The following table reconciles our financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) to non-GAAP financial results for the prior year. We have provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance. Management commentary regarding performance and growth refers to non-GAAP financial results.

     

    Three Months Ended March 31,

     
    ($ in millions, except per share amounts)

    2013 As Reported (GAAP)

    Net revenue recognition for Windows Upgrade Offer, Office Deferral, and Video Game Deferral

    European Commission Fine

    2013 As Adjusted (Non-GAAP)

    2014 As Reported (GAAP)

    %Y/Y (GAAP)

    %Y/Y (Non-GAAP)

    Revenue

    $20,489

    ($1,658)

     

        $18,831

    $20,403

    (0)%

    8%

    Gross Margin

    $15,702

    ($1,658)

    $14,044

    $14,462

    (8)%

    3%

    Operating Income

    $7,612

    ($1,658)

    $733

    $6,687

    $6,974

    (8)%

    4%

    Diluted EPS

    $0.72

    ($0.16)

    $0.09

    $0.65

    $0.68

    (6)%

    5%

     

    “This quarter’s results demonstrate the strength of our business, as well as the opportunities we see in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. We are making good progress in our consumer services like Bing and Office 365 Home, and our commercial customers continue to embrace our cloud solutions. Both position us well for long-term growth,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “We are focused on executing rapidly and delivering bold, innovative products that people love to use.”

    “We delivered solid, broad-based financial results driven by strong execution and continued cost discipline,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Microsoft. “We are focusing our resources to drive growth and long-term shareholder value.”

    Devices and Consumer revenue grew 12% to $8.30 billion.

    • Windows OEM revenue grew 4%, driven by strong 19% growth in Windows OEM Pro revenue.
    • Office 365 Home now has 4.4 million subscribers, adding nearly 1 million subscribers in just three months.
    • Microsoft sold in 2.0 million Xbox console units, including 1.2 million Xbox One consoles.
    • Surface revenue grew over 50% to approximately $500 million.
    • Bing U.S. search share grew to 18.6% and search advertising revenue grew 38%.

    Commercial revenue grew 7% to $12.23 billion.

    • Office 365 revenue grew over 100%, and commercial seats nearly doubled, demonstrating strong enterprise momentum for Microsoft’s cloud productivity solutions.
    • Azure revenue grew over 150%, and the company has announced more than 40 new features that make the Azure platform more attractive to cloud application developers.
    • Windows volume licensing revenue grew 11%, as business customers continue to make Windows their platform of choice.
    • Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange, our productivity server offerings, collectively grew double-digits.

    “Our products and services continue to deliver differentiated business value to our customers, and we continue to win share in areas like cloud services, data platform, and infrastructure management,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. “Our SQL Server business grew double-digits again this quarter, and with the announcements of SQL 2014 and Power BI for Office 365, we offer a unique, comprehensive, end-to-end data and analytics solution.”

    Nokia

    Microsoft expects to close the acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business on April 25, 2014.

    Business Outlook

    Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.

    Webcast Details

    Satya Nadella, chief executive officer, Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Frank Brod, chief accounting officer, John Seethoff, deputy general counsel, and Chris Suh, general manager of Investor Relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PDT (5:30 p.m. EDT) today to discuss details of the company’s performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed athttp://www.microsoft.com/investor. The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on April 24, 2015.

    Adjusted Financial Results and Non-GAAP Measures

    During the third quarter of fiscal year 2013, GAAP revenue, gross margin, operating income, and diluted earnings per share included the net revenue recognition for the Windows Upgrade Offer, the Office Deferral, the Video Game Deferral, and the European Commission Fine. These items are defined below. In addition to these financial results reported in accordance with GAAP, we have provided certain non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance. Presenting these measures without the impact of these items gives additional insight into operational performance and helps clarify trends affecting the company’s business. For comparability of reporting, management considers this information in conjunction with GAAP amounts in evaluating business performance. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

    Non-GAAP Definitions

    Revenue deferred on sales of Windows 7 with an option to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro at a discounted price (“Windows Upgrade Offer”).

    Revenue deferred on sales of the previous version of the Microsoft Office system with a guarantee to be upgraded to the new Office at minimal or no cost and pre-sales of the new Office to OEMs and retailers before general availability (collectively, the “Office Deferral”).

    Revenue deferred on sales of video games with the right to receive specified software upgrades/enhancements (“Video Game Deferral”).

    Fine of €561 million ($733 million) assessed by the European Commission in 2013 for violation of an order to provide a browser choice screen with Internet Explorer on PCs sold in Europe (“European Commission Fine”).

    About Microsoft

    Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Statements in this release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as:

    • intense competition in all of Microsoft’s markets;
    • increasing focus on services presents execution and competitive risks;
    • significant investments in new products and services that may not be profitable;
    • acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances, including our acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business, may have an adverse effect on our business;
    • Microsoft’s continued ability to protect its intellectual property rights;
    • claims that Microsoft has infringed the intellectual property rights of others;
    • the possibility of unauthorized disclosure of significant portions of Microsoft’s source code;
    • cyber-attacks and security vulnerabilities in Microsoft products that could reduce revenue or lead to liability;
    • disclosure of personal data that could result in liability and harm to Microsoft’s reputation;
    • outages, data losses, and disruptions of our online services if we fail to maintain an adequate operations infrastructure;
    • government litigation and regulation that may limit how Microsoft designs and markets its products;
    • Microsoft’s ability to attract and retain talented employees;
    • delays in product development and related product release schedules;
    • adverse economic or market conditions may harm our business;
    • adverse results in legal disputes;
    • unanticipated tax liabilities;
    • our hardware and software products may experience quality or supply problems;
    • impairment of goodwill or amortizable intangible assets causing a charge to earnings;
    • exposure to increased economic and regulatory uncertainties from operating a global business; and
    • catastrophic events or geo-political conditions may disrupt our business.

    For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft’s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft’s Investor Relations website at http://www.microsoft.com/investor.

    All information in this release is as of April 24, 2014. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.

    For more information, press only:

    Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, (503) 443-7070,rrt@waggeneredstrom.com

     

    For more information, financial analysts and investors only:

    Chris Suh, general manager, Investor Relations, (425) 706-4400

     

    Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news/. Web links, telephone numbers, and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. Shareholder and financial information, as well as today’s 2:30 p.m. PDT conference call with investors and analysts, is available at http://www.microsoft.com/investor.

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

    INCOME STATEMENTS

    (In millions, except per share amounts)(Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended March 31,

    Nine Months Ended March 31,

     

    2014

     

    2013

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Revenue

     $   20,403

     $20,489

     $    63,451

     $57,953

    Cost of revenue

    5,941

    4,787

    19,339

    14,647

       Gross margin

    14,462

    15,702

    44,112

    43,306

    Operating expenses:
       Research and development

    2,743

    2,640

    8,258

    7,628

       Sales and marketing

    3,542

    3,794

    11,129

    11,048

       General and administrative

    1,203

    1,656

    3,448

    3,939

         Total operating expenses

    7,488

    8,090

    22,835

    22,615

    Operating income

    6,974

    7,612

    21,277

    20,691

    Other income (expense)

    (17)

    (9)

    (34)

    216

    Income before income taxes

    6,957

    7,603

    21,243

    20,907

    Provision for income taxes

    1,297

    1,548

    3,781

    4,009

    Net income

     $     5,660

     $  6,055

     $    17,462

     $16,898

    Earnings per share:
       Basic

     $      0.68

     $    0.72

     $        2.10

     $    2.02

       Diluted

     $      0.68

     $    0.72

     $        2.08

     $    1.99

    Weighted average shares outstanding:
       Basic

    8,284

    8,364

    8,317

    8,385

       Diluted

    8,367

    8,429

    8,411

    8,472

    Cash dividends declared per
    common share

     $      0.28

     

     $    0.23

     $        0.84

     

     $    0.69

     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

    COMPREHENSIVE INCOME STATEMENTS

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended March 31,

    Nine Months Ended March 31,

     

    2014

     

    2013

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Net income

     $     5,660

     $  6,055

     $    17,462

     $16,898

    Other comprehensive income (loss):
       Net unrealized gains (losses) on
    derivatives (net of tax effects
    of $1, $19, $(1)
    and $(10))

    (31)

    35

    (14)

    (19)

       Net unrealized gains on
    investments (net of tax
    effects of $37, $150,
    $774 and $401)

    68

    278

    1,502

    744

       Translation adjustments and
    other (net of tax effects
    of $9, $(61), $53
    and $31)

    18

    (114)

    101

    58

          Other comprehensive income

    55

    199

    1,589

    783

    Comprehensive income

     $     5,715

     $  6,254

     $    19,051

     $17,681

     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

    BALANCE SHEETS

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

     

    March 31,
    2014

     

    June 30, 2013

    Assets
    Current assets:
      Cash and cash equivalents

     $         11,572

     $      3,804

      Short-term investments (including securities
    loaned of $707 and $579)

    76,853

    73,218

        Total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term
    investments

    88,425

    77,022

      Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful
    accounts of $255 and $336

    13,497

    17,486

      Inventories

    1,920

    1,938

      Deferred income taxes

    1,424

    1,632

      Other

    3,740

    3,388

        Total current assets

    109,006

    101,466

    Property and equipment, net of accumulated
    depreciation of $14,441 and $12,513

    11,771

    9,991

    Equity and other investments

    14,792

    10,844

    Goodwill

    14,751

    14,655

    Intangible assets, net

    2,901

    3,083

    Other long-term assets

    2,898

    2,392

               Total assets

     $       156,119

     $  142,431

    Liabilities and stockholders’ equity
    Current liabilities:
      Accounts payable

     $           4,583

     $      4,828

      Current portion of long-term debt

    2,000

    2,999

      Accrued compensation

    3,887

    4,117

      Income taxes

    694

    592

      Short-term unearned revenue

    17,670

    20,639

      Securities lending payable

    794

    645

      Other

    4,275

    3,597

        Total current liabilities

    33,903

    37,417

    Long-term debt

    20,679

    12,601

    Long-term unearned revenue

    1,842

    1,760

    Deferred income taxes

    2,318

    1,709

    Other long-term liabilities

    9,953

    10,000

        Total liabilities

    68,695

    63,487

    Commitments and contingencies
    Stockholders’ equity:
      Common stock and paid-in capital – shares
    authorized 24,000; outstanding 8,260 and 8,328

    67,803

    67,306

      Retained earnings

    16,289

    9,895

      Accumulated other comprehensive income

    3,332

    1,743

        Total stockholders’ equity

    87,424

    78,944

               Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

     $       156,119

     $  142,431

     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

    CASH FLOW STATEMENTS

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended March 31,

    Nine Months Ended March 31,

     

    2014

     

    2013

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Operations
    Net income

     $     5,660

     $  6,055

     $    17,462

     $16,898

    Adjustments to reconcile net
    income to net cash from
    operations:
       Depreciation, amortization, and
    other

    1,255

    1,053

    3,470

    2,772

       Stock-based compensation
    expense

    602

    599

    1,828

    1,805

       Net recognized losses (gains)
    on investments and
    derivatives

    (40)

    (52)

    100

    (19)

       Excess tax benefits from
    stock-based compensation

    (22)

    (6)

    (247)

    (192)

       Deferred income taxes

    (190)

    226

    38

    404

       Deferral of unearned revenue

    10,175

    9,686

    27,456

    28,632

       Recognition of unearned
    revenue

    (10,139)

    (11,599)

    (30,394)

    (30,852)

       Changes in operating assets
    and liabilities:
          Accounts receivable

    2,501

    2,191

    4,243

    3,859

          Inventories

    (324)

    (483)

    38

    (989)

          Other current assets

    340

    139

    (311)

    (96)

          Other long-term assets

    (73)

    (13)

    (469)

    (326)

          Accounts payable

    (716)

    (67)

    (390)

    51

          Other current liabilities

    870

    1,238

    3

    119

          Other long-term liabilities

    200

    699

    (110)

    864

             Net cash from operations

    10,099

    9,666

    22,717

    22,930

    Financing
    Proceeds from issuance of debt

    0

    0

    8,850

    2,232

    Repayments of debt

    (300)

    0

    (1,888)

    0

    Common stock issued

    141

    203

    461

    765

    Common stock repurchased

    (1,845)

    (1,028)

    (6,146)

    (4,318)

    Common stock cash dividends paid

    (2,322)

    (1,925)

    (6,570)

    (5,534)

    Excess tax benefits from
    stock-based compensation

    22

    6

    247

    192

    Other

    0

    0

    (39)

    (16)

             Net cash used in financing

    (4,304)

    (2,744)

    (5,085)

    (6,679)

    Investing
    Additions to property and
    equipment

    (1,192)

    (930)

    (4,155)

    (2,463)

    Acquisition of companies, net of
    cash acquired, and purchases of
    intangible and other assets

    (157)

    (108)

    (311)

    (1,564)

    Purchases of investments

    (21,323)

    (18,160)

    (49,217)

    (48,372)

    Maturities of investments

    2,336

    1,265

    4,134

    4,513

    Sales of investments

    16,006

    9,730

    39,477

    30,163

    Securities lending payable

    46

    543

    149

    (249)

             Net cash used in investing

    (4,284)

    (7,660)

    (9,923)

    (17,972)

    Effect of exchange rates on cash
    and cash equivalents

    2

    (39)

    59

    23

    Net change in cash and cash
    equivalents

    1,513

    (777)

    7,768

    (1,698)

    Cash and cash equivalents,
    beginning of period

    10,059

    6,017

    3,804

    6,938

    Cash and cash equivalents, end of
    period

     $   11,572

     $  5,240

     $    11,572

     $  5,240

     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    SEGMENT REVENUE AND GROSS MARGIN

    (In millions)(Unaudited)

     

    Three Months Ended March 31,

     

    Nine Months Ended March 31,

     

     

     

    2014

     

    2013

     

    2014

     

    2013

    Revenue

     

     

     

     

     

    Devices and Consumer Licensing

     $     4,382

     

     $  4,352

     

     $   14,109

     

     $14,733

    Devices and Consumer Hardware

    1,973

     

    1,402

     

    8,187

     

    5,294

    Devices and Consumer Other

    1,950

     

    1,656

     

    5,378

     

    5,055

    Commercial Licensing

    10,323

     

    9,979

     

    30,805

     

    29,059

    Commercial Other

    1,902

     

    1,449

     

    5,285

     

    4,086

    Corporate and Other

    (127)

     

    1,651

     

    (313)

     

    (274)

      Total revenue

     $   20,403

     

     $20,489

     

     $   63,451

     

     $57,953

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Gross Margin

     

     

     

     

     

    Devices and Consumer Licensing

     $     3,906

     

     $  3,929

     

     $   12,809

     

     $13,163

    Devices and Consumer Hardware

    258

     

    393

     

    875

     

    1,603

    Devices and Consumer Other

    541

     

    430

     

    1,324

     

    1,678

    Commercial Licensing

    9,430

     

    9,085

     

    28,308

     

    26,594

    Commercial Other

    475

     

    264

     

    1,165

     

    585

    Corporate and Other

    (148)

     

    1,601

     

    (369)

     

    (317)

      Total gross margin

     $   14,462

     

     $15,702

     

     $   44,112

     

     $43,306


    Image via Microsoft

  • Phil Spencer Gets Promoted To Head Of Xbox Division

    Phil Spencer is probably the most likable of all the Xbox executives. He exudes confidence during all of Microsoft’s press conferences, and he has a legitimate love for games. In fact, you could say he’d be the perfect fit to lead Xbox in 2014. Well, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella seems to agree.

    Nadella announced this morning that Phil Spencer will now lead the Xbox division. As part of the announcement, Nadella also revealed that the Xbox division will now include Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox Music, Xbox Video and Microsoft Studios. Before the promotion, Spencer was the CVP of Microsoft Game Studios where he managed all the various developers under Microsoft. With Microsoft Studios now being consolidated into Xbox, he will still oversee the division he has grown into a powerhouse over the last few years while also managing the direction the Xbox hardware and Xbox Live software go in here on out.

    Here’s what Nadella had to say about the changes coming to Xbox:

    In this new job, Phil will lead the Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox Music and Xbox Video teams, and Microsoft Studios. Combining all our software, gaming and content assets across the Xbox team under a single leader and aligning with the OSG team will help ensure we continue to do great work across the Xbox business, and bring more of the magic of Xbox to all form factors, including tablets, PCs and phones. Phil will continue his close partnership with Yusuf Mehdi, who leads business strategy and marketing for Xbox, George Peckham, who heads up third-party partnerships and Mike Angiulo, who will continue leading Xbox hardware.

    Spencer took to Xbox Wire to talk about his new role within the consolidated Xbox division. While some gamers may feel anxious over bringing Xbox Video and Xbox Music into the fold, Spencer says that the focus will remain on games:

    The growth of the Xbox community, with over 80 million Xbox owners around the world, is built on the foundation of exclusive franchises, new and original IP and the world’s most popular cross-platform games. Games and gamers have always been at the core of Xbox and the core of my work—and gaming will be our core as we take Xbox forward.

    Spencer goes on to say that the Xbox division will focus solely on the consumer going forward. He doesn’t explicitly bring up last year’s disastrous DRM debacle, but that moment undoubtedly helped remind Microsoft that the gamers have the final say in this industry and they must serve them if they want to grow:

    This past year has been a growth experience both for me and for the entire Xbox team. We’ve taken feedback, made our products better and renewed our focus on what is most important, our customer. Our mission is to build a world-class team, work hard to meet the high expectations of a passionate fan base, create the best games and entertainment and drive technical innovation. As we continue forward, this renewed focus and mission will be a foundational part of how I lead the Xbox program.

    At the end of his letter, Spencer promises some big things from Microsoft this year as it heads into E3. He has already admitted that Microsoft’s originally planned E3 press conference was too big to fit into the hour and a half time slot. That alone should excite Xbox fans and hype them up for whatever Microsoft has planned for this year.

    Image via Xbox

  • Microsoft Office for iPad: CEO May Unveil Next Week

    Microsoft will reportedly introduce Office for  iPad at an event in San Francisco on March 27.

    Satya Nadella will host his first event next week as CEO of Microsoft and invitations to the event have been making the rounds. Nadella is expected to discuss Microsoft’s mobile and cloud strategies, and sources indicate the company will be revealing an app for the tablet similar to Office for iPhone at the affair.

    The company’s Build developer conference begins April 2. There is speculation Microsoft will drop news of Office for iPad next week to draw attention and set the stage for the upcoming conference.

    Microsoft has been reportedly working on the product for months now, and first introduced an iOS version of Office for iPhone last June.

    The iPad will apparently be similar to the iPhone version, and will require an Office 365 subscription for editing. Editing will be fully supported for Office, Excel, and Powerpoint apps.

    The unveiling is in line with what Nadella announced to be his “cloud first, mobile first” strategy for the company when he was named as the replacement for CEO Steve Ballmer in February.

    “I would say the first thing I want to do and focus on is ruthlessly remove any obstacles that allow us to innovate,” says Nadella in his interview video and first memo to Microsoft employees.

    “And then focus all that innovation on things that Microsoft can uniquely do,” said Nadella.

    Microsoft launched a Mac version of its One Note Office app Monday, as well as Office Online last month, the company’s version of Google Drive.

    The March 27 event will set the stage for future announcements from the company. It is expected Microsoft will also unveil Windows Phone 8.1 at Build, as well as details about its Windows 8.1 Update and information about Windows 9.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons