Microsoft Corporation announced Monday that it has earned $2.2 billion in its fourth quarter ending June 30th, significantly beating analyst expectations yet again. This compares with $1.36 billion in revenues from the same quarter a year ago, a 62% increase. Revenues for the quarter were $5.76 billion, up 39%. The company warns, however, that it will experience slower growth in fiscal 2000, which began July 1st.
"Continuing consumer demand for Microsoft Windows and Office drove another year of fine financial performance," said Greg Maffei, chief financial officer of Microsoft. "Customer enthusiasm also accelerated for our server products, with Windows NT Server, SQL Server and Exchange Server all reporting strong growth. However, in fiscal 2000 our revenue growth rates will decline due to slowing PC demand, uncertainty surrounding Y2K, and uncertain global economic conditions, and we will not see further margin expansion."
Windows NT, Maffei noted, is now in use on over 37 million PCs around the world, double the number from only a year ago. Windows NT Workstation is now preinstalled on over 37% of all new business PCs
