Online Services

Mr. Ballmer’s Wild Ride! Microsoft Execs Will Address Wall Street Suits Today.

Kara Swisher in News on September 14, 2011 at 7:17 am PT

Hey, kids, it’s time for the Microsoft Mouse Club at the annual Financial Analysts Meeting in Anaheim today.

Liveblogging Microsoft Q4 Earnings: I’m So Excited and I Just Can’t Hide It

Kara Swisher in News on July 21, 2011 at 2:49 pm PT

Microsoft had a solid fourth quarter, which is why the conference call with Wall Street analysts should be relatively short and sweet. Or sweet, at least.

Confirmed: Microsoft Will Announce Acquisition of Skype Tomorrow Morning

Kara Swisher in News on May 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm PT

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier tonight that Microsoft–in what would be its most aggressive acquisition in the digital space–was zeroing in on buying Skype for $8.5 billion all in. Sources told BoomTown tonight that the deal for the online telephony and video communications giant is actually done and will be announced early tomorrow morning.

Liveblogging Microsoft 3Q Earnings: Office-Tastic and Kinect-Able (But PC-Frown)

Kara Swisher in News on April 28, 2011 at 2:48 pm PT

You’d think there would be a party in Redmond, Wash. today, as software giant Microsoft soundly beat Wall Street expectations in its third-quarter earnings released today. But there are shadows too, as results were dragged down by weaker revenues for its flagship Windows unit. The report comes as Microsoft’s stock continues to lag, declining 14 percent for the year. Buzz kill!

Liveblogging Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting (Morning Session): It's a Beautiful Day?

Kara Swisher in News on July 29, 2010 at 8:24 am PT

BoomTown took the corporate All Things Digital jet–aka Virgin America, seat 10A–up to Redmond, Wash., today to attend Microsoft’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting, which also includes a passel of media drones like me. I liveblogged the event all day, which was essentially a cavalcade of top execs from the software giant taking the stage and showing off their wares. Before it started, U2′s “Beautiful Day” was playing over the sound system, which it was not up here in the Pacific Northwest this morning–it was kind of cold and gloomy, a la “Twilight”–but hopefully sparkly for Microsoft execs.

Wallow in Microsoft's Q4 Glory: The Show-Me-the-Money Slides

Kara Swisher in News on July 22, 2010 at 3:55 pm PT

As it turned out, Microsoft blew past even the sunniest Wall Street expectations in its fourth-quarter earnings, spurred by a robust PC upgrade cycle. BoomTown was on a plane jetting to Aspen for the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference, so I missed liveblogging the conference call this afternoon (sorry, Frank!). Here are the software giant’s slides of the financial results to peruse at your leisure.

Microsoft Muscles Past Expectations

John Paczkowski in News on July 22, 2010 at 1:17 pm PT

Wall Street had high hopes for Microsoft’s latest financials, and the company did not disappoint. Fueled by a strong PC upgrade cycle, it turned in a record fourth quarter. Net income rose to $4.5 billion, or 51 cents a share, from $3 billion, and revenue to $16.04 billion from $13.1 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 46 cents a share on $15.2 billion in revenue.

Microsoft's Baaaaack? Expectations for 4Q Earnings High (As Online Division Losses Surely Will Be)

Kara Swisher in News on July 22, 2010 at 9:15 am PT

BoomTown always likes to play the quarterly game of guessing exactly how eye-popping the loss in the Online Services division of Microsoft will be. In the third quarter, for example, it was $713,000,000–yes, all those zeros! But that will be just a rounding error to Microsoft in the fourth quarter if the software giant can meet Wall Street expectations of strong gains in profits and revenue, due to improving computer demand.

What to Make of the Microsoft-Is-Falling-And-It-Can't-Get-Up Meme

Kara Swisher in News on June 22, 2010 at 8:43 am PT

Oh dear, here it comes round again, like a bout of the flu–the indefatigable narrative about how Microsoft is headed downhill at an alarming speed, how CEO Steve Ballmer is about to get the boot and how it is all really, really true since the echo chamber of tech keeps repeating it. But is the sky really falling?

Exclusive: AOL Hires Microsoft Exec Alex Gounares as CTO

Kara Swisher in News on May 7, 2010 at 12:08 pm PT

According to sources close to the situation, AOL has hired Alex Gounares as its CTO. Gounares’s departure was announced internally at Microsoft today, where he is corporate VP of Advertising Research and Development and CTO for the software giant’s Online Services division.