Xbox 360 Drives Microsoft's Quarter Profit To $4.41 Billion

Microsoft today posted a fiscal third quarter revenue of $14.45 billion and a net income of $4.39 million, compared to $14.40 billion and 4.93 billion, respectively, for the same period last year.

The quarter result reflects decreased Windows Vista sales revenue, which are a result of $1.7 billion of deferred Windows Vista Express upgrade revenue reported by Microsoft in its fiscal third quarter of last year. Overall, client revenue came in at $4.01 billion, down from $5.3 billion last year. The decrease was partially offset by a 5% increase in OEM license units. Microsoft noted that revenue from commercial and retail licensing of Windows operating systems climbed $71 million or 4% during the nine months ended March 31, 2008, primarily due to sales from Enterprise Agreements and anti-piracy efforts in emerging markets.

Much of the third quarter success was driven by the company’s entertainment devices division. The company sold 1.3 million game consoles during the quarter and 7.5 million devices during the first nine months of its fiscal year.

Despite increased revenue from Aquantive, Microsoft’s online division dipped deeper into the red : Sales jumped from $603 to $843 million year over year, while the loss increased from $171 million to $228 million.