This morning at Microsoft, it seems that someone sighed, “Let’s get it over with.” The company has released a fourth quarter financial report that wasn’t supposed to turn up until after trading hours, and the numbers in it aren’t pretty.
Steve Ballmer
Some of the negative news was spilled in the very first paragraph. It admits, “Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $16.63 billion for the second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, a 2% increase over the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.94 billion, $4.17 billion and $0.47, declines of 8%, 11% and 6%, respectively, compared with the prior year.”
A two percent increase is sad, of course, and those declines are downright nasty. Microsoft isn’t offering quantitative earnings and revenue guidance, either, which speaks to a shaky future.
Then there was a depressing heads up for the company’s employees. Microsoft is cutting 1,400 jobs today, and may trim as many as 3,600 more over the next 18 months. People in R&D, marketing, sales, finance, legal, HR, and IT are all at risk.
Still, Steve Ballmer tried to stay upbeat. The CEO stated, “While we are not immune to the effects of the economy, I am confident in the strength of our product portfolio and soundness of our approach. We will continue to manage expenses and invest in long-term opportunities to deliver value to customers and shareholders, and we will emerge an even stronger industry leader than we are today.”
Microsoft’s stock is down 9.00 percent at the moment.
