Quarterly with a surprise for Microsoft: the technological giant not only released accounts substantially in line with expectations but above all announced the departure of financial director Peter Klein. The manager is the latest in a series of top managers to leave the group due to declining personal computer sales and a tepid reaction to the launch of the new Window 8 operating system. It was only last November that the head of Windows Division, Steven Sinofsky. I'm now very much wondering if CEO Steve Ballmer is the right number one for Microsoft, whose stock has remained largely unchanged over the past decade. Klein's exit, after 11 years at Microsoft and 3 years as CFO, was announced to employees by Ballmer, who recalled the manager's role in the acquisitions of Skype and the social network Yammer.
As for the accounts, in the quarter ended last March 31, Microsoft recorded profits of 6,06 billion dollars, up from 5,11 billion in the same period of the year before. In terms of earnings per share, the figure came to 72 cents from 60 a year earlier. Analysts had expected a figure of 68 cents. Revenue rose 18% to $20,49 billion versus expectations for $20,5 billion. The Windows and Windows Live division saw revenues increase by 23%, the one dedicated to servers and other products that represent the basis of corporate networks and private 'computing clouds' saw an increase of 11%, while the business division - largely given starts from Microsoft Office sales – up 8,2%.
