Microsoft Q3 net jumps 31% to $5.23 bn

Software giant Microsoft Corp has reported a 31% jump in net income to $5.23 billion for the January-March quarter of 2011 on strong sales of its Office and Xbox products.

The company's revenue rose by 13% vis-a-vis the year-ago period to $16.43 billion in the third quarter ended March 31, 2011, Microsoft said in a statement.

"We delivered strong financial results despite a mixed PC environment, which demonstrates the strength and breadth of our businesses.

"Consumers are purchasing Office 2010, Xbox and Kinect at tremendous rates and businesses of all sizes are purchasing Microsoft platforms and applications," Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said.

The software major attributed its strong quarter earnings to robust revenue growth of its four divisions -- the Microsoft business division, server and tools; online services and the entertainment and devices unit.

The software giant's largest unit -- the Microsoft business division, which includes Microsoft Office -- posted a 21% rise in revenue.

Server and tools revenue grew 11% year-over-year, the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. In addition, revenues from the online services unit rose 14% year-over-year, primarily driven by increases in search revenue.

In addition, revenue from the entertainment and devices division surged by 60% year-over-year, fuelled by Kinect for Xbox 360, continued strong Xbox 360 console sales and the growth of Xbox Live.

However, the company said sales of its Windows operating system fell 4% vis-a-vis the year-ago quarter.

"We delivered strong third quarter revenue from our business customers, driven by outstanding performance from Windows Server, SQL database, SharePoint, Exchange, Lync and increasingly our cloud services," Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner said.