Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#41

Post by Naga » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

chx wrote: post #9

I absolutely hate these confusing words. It is alongside of "surname" and "last name" -- why can't you just use "family name" and "given name". While I understand an investor report needs to be precise the articles about it needs to use terms people understand. Like "this is how much money came in the doors" -- aka. income. I believe the word "revenue" is used for what a layperson would call "income" and "income" is…

Revenue and income mean different things. Revenue specifically means sales (sorta) and income is generally after cost of goods sold and other operating expenses. These matter, though. A company can have high revenue and low profit, or vice versa. If you want to see their net income, you can look at their financial statements on SEDAR's website, or on Google or Yahoo finance.

The article is definitely poorly worded, but the words themselves are not the problem.

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#42

Post by chenster » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:05 PM UTC

allengeorge wrote: post #35

bearbin wrote: post #2

The headline is very confusing - "Microsoft beats Wall Street predictions with $22.6B revenue" would be a better choice.

Really? "Street" is a pretty common term for Wall Street (aka. the consensus opinion of analysts) I've definitely seen it for years.

I hate English.

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#43

Post by jessriedel » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:06 PM UTC

allengeorge wrote: post #35

bearbin wrote: post #2

The headline is very confusing - "Microsoft beats Wall Street predictions with $22.6B revenue" would be a better choice.

Really? "Street" is a pretty common term for Wall Street (aka. the consensus opinion of analysts) I've definitely seen it for years.

I had no idea what it was. Presumed it was some new startup.

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#44

Post by TheWiseOne3 » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:06 PM UTC

julsimon wrote: post #6

Not according to GAAP rules... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-19/microsoft-misses-ga...

What companies use GAAP anymore? Do you know about anything about it?

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#45

Post by chenster » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:07 PM UTC

forgetsusername wrote: post #39

Dwolb wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might mean the opposite. GAAP rulea may dictate they book the revenue over the life of the OS to better match liabilities in the form of updates. MSFT want to book all the revenue now as an "economic reality". It sounds like they're also claiming restructurings of their phone hardware division was a "one time charge" and removing those expenses, again, to better represent the "economic reality".

> GAAP rulea may dictate they book the revenue over the life of the OS to better match liabilities in the form of updates. MSFT want to book all the revenue now as an "economic reality". I think you might be right; the revenue should be deferred over the life of Windows 10, but their non-GAAP measure books it up front. Hence the top line beat. Not a particularly heinous accounting maneuver.

So the news is ... a lie?

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#46

Post by Naga » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:07 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #24

julsimon wrote: post #6

Not according to GAAP rules... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-19/microsoft-misses-ga...

> adds back such items as Windows 10 deferrals to revenue What does this mean? Are Microsoft counting people who haven't upgraded as if they have upgraded?

Revenue deferral is a very strange term. What basically happened is Microsoft claims Windows 10 is free and gives it away to everyone, hence the non-GAAP income. However, under GAAP, they are not actually giving Windows 10 away for free. Instead, they book revenue from Windows 10 but because they aren't charging for it, they must expense it as a promotional activity. What part of this is a revenue deferral? Nowhere, really, except that revenue which should have been booked is not (because it's free).

Microsoft obviously does not want to do this since it drops their earnings by a significant amount, but I'm sure their auditors gave them shit for it. Their auditors probably also made them book impairment charges on things they didn't feel were impaired.

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#47

Post by TheWiseOne3 » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:08 PM UTC

jessriedel wrote: post #43

allengeorge wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? "Street" is a pretty common term for Wall Street (aka. the consensus opinion of analysts) I've definitely seen it for years.

I had no idea what it was. Presumed it was some new startup.

That's like suggesting we should dumb-down computer programming article titles so people ignorant of the article and anything it contains might somehow get an inkling what their missing out on.

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#48

Post by csixty4 » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:10 PM UTC

allengeorge wrote: post #35

bearbin wrote: post #2

The headline is very confusing - "Microsoft beats Wall Street predictions with $22.6B revenue" would be a better choice.

Really? "Street" is a pretty common term for Wall Street (aka. the consensus opinion of analysts) I've definitely seen it for years.

I'm used to seeing it in financial news. But this is a tech site. Different audience.

Just like how I cringe when I see terms like "the cloud" in Business Week or one of those magazines.

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#49

Post by jonknee » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:29 PM UTC

csixty4 wrote: post #48

allengeorge wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? "Street" is a pretty common term for Wall Street (aka. the consensus opinion of analysts) I've definitely seen it for years.

I'm used to seeing it in financial news. But this is a tech site. Different audience. Just like how I cringe when I see terms like "the cloud" in Business Week or one of those magazines.

Well it's an article about quarterly earnings, it's OK to use financial terms.

Re: Microsoft reports $22.6B in Q4 revenue

#50

Post by mfoy_ » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 1:55 PM UTC

allengeorge wrote: post #35

bearbin wrote: post #2

The headline is very confusing - "Microsoft beats Wall Street predictions with $22.6B revenue" would be a better choice.

Really? "Street" is a pretty common term for Wall Street (aka. the consensus opinion of analysts) I've definitely seen it for years.

"the Street" or "Street's estimate" or something to provide more context. I also thought "Street" was some tech thing that was competing against some Microsoft business line.