Apr 28, 2006, 3:20 GMT
Seattle - Strong sales of its Xbox 360 video game console and database software saw Microsoft on Thursday report a 16 per cent rise in profits and a 13 per cent rise in revenues.
But the results fell short of Wall Street expectations and shares of the software giant slid some 4 per cent in after-hours trading as Microsoft predicted revenue for the fiscal year of around 49.5 billion dollars to 50.5 billion dollars.
The world's largest software maker said its net profit in the fiscal third quarter was 2.98 billion dollars, or 29 cents per share, compared to 2.56 billion dollars, or 28 cents per diluted share, a year earlier. Revenue was up 13 per cent to 10.9 billion dollars, just under the 11.04 billion dollars predicted by analysts.
The Xbox 360 and SQL database software are the first products in a wave of new offerings that Microsoft hopes will invigorate its performance next year. The new products include updated versions of both Microsoft's flagship products Windows and Office, which are both due out in January 2007.
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