The Register: Microsoft Q3 profits up ahead of Street expectations [via sale of MS investments]

"Net profits for the quarter reached $2.39 billion, up from $1.91 billion for the same period last year. Those figures translate into earnings of 43 cents a share and 35 cents a share, respectively."

"Mind you, just under a third of that - $885 million - came from the sale of Microsoft investments, hardly a core activity for a software company. Discount such padding and the company's profit comes to $1.505 billion, or 27 cents a share. Microsoft's investment portfolio stood at $21.3 billion at the end of the quarter - its cash reserves totalled $21.2 billion."

"The company doesn't appear to have mentioned the L-word, and while Microsoft's share of the OS market vastly outweighs Linux's share, it can't have failed to have some impact, albeit a small one."

Complete Story

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