Xbox 360 woes cut into Microsoft profits

Redmond (WA) – Problems with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 consoles cut into the company’s fiscal fourth quarter profits. Microsoft announced that its quarterly revenues were $13.37 billion or 13% higher than the same time last year. Fiscal year revenues totaled $51.12 billion which is 15% over the prior year.

As expected, the Vista operating system and Office suite were the main money makers. Sales within the business division, which includes Office, rose 18% to $4.63 billion dollars. Overall profits rose were 8% at $3.04 billion versus $2.83 billion last year.

The company spent more than $1 billion dollars this last quarter fixing broken Xbox 360 consoles and extending rebates to customers who have already turned in their consoles for repair. Microsoft recently announced that it would extend the Xbox 360 warranty program.

Microsoft expects revenues for the next quarter to be slightly lower in the range of $12.4 to $12.6 billion dollars.