Microsoft reported record revenue of USD 24.52 billion for the quarter ended 31 December, up 14 percent from a year earlier. The company's operating profit for the fiscal second quarter rose 3 percent to USD 7.97 billion, and net earnings were also up 3 percent, to USD 0.78 per share. The strong sales were driven by the Devices and Consumer unit, with revenues up 13 percent to USD 11.91 billion, and the Commercial division, where sales increased 10 percent to USD 12.67 billion.
The Consumer division was led by strong sales of the new Xbox gaming console and double-digit growth in search advertising, while sales of the Surface tablet doubled on a sequential basis to USD 893 million. Microsoft said Windows revenue was down 3 percent, hurt by weak consumer PC sales, but the company saw 12 percent grow in sales of the professional version of the OS.
At the Commercial division, it also saw strong demand for SQL Server, System Center, Office 365 and Azure software and cloud services. Microsoft said it gained market share as its products grew faster than the overall enterprise IT market.
