Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#1

Post by lleims » Tue, May 15, 2012, 7:44 PM UTC

Re: Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#2

Post by facorreia » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:30 PM UTC

Well said. It's amazing to see high level publications bashing Microsoft without even mentioning their hugely successful set of offerings for enterprises, and the impressive speed at which they're building the Azure services platform. I never bet against Microsoft.

Re: Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#3

Post by maybird » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:39 PM UTC

  (229) M Entertainment and Devices

How did they lose money on Xbox?

Re: Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#4

Post by mey » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:54 PM UTC

maybird wrote: post #3

(229) M Entertainment and Devices How did they lose money on Xbox?

Entertainment/Devices is more then just Xbox. Skype acquisition could be in there, warrenty costs, and windows mobile.

I doubt they are loosing money on "Xbox" depending on how you define that bubble.

Re: Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#5

Post by reidmain » Tue, May 15, 2012, 9:00 PM UTC

maybird wrote: post #3

(229) M Entertainment and Devices How did they lose money on Xbox?

They only recently started making money with every sale of a Xbox 360. Typically console makers sell their hardware at a loss to get it into as many hands as possible and then make money with software.

That is why Nintendo is taking such a bath this generation. People buy a Wii for the novelty and only get one or two games where Microsoft and Sony are much more about the games they have on their consoles.

Re: Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#6

Post by dean » Tue, May 15, 2012, 9:01 PM UTC

The stock market is all about the future, not the past. A lot of people see Microsoft's future as being less profitable than its past. That's why people belittle it.

Microsoft makes a ton of money, no one will deny that, but they make less money than they used to. It's funny how the OP shows the financial numbers for one quarter and says the "the trend here is clear". You can't determine a trend on one quarter, you have to compare to other quarters.

Here are some numbers from Google Finance (http://www.google.com/finance?q=msft)

The first number is Q1 (Mar '12), the second is 2011

Net profit margin 29.34% 33.10%

Operating margin 36.62% 38.83%

Return on average assets 17.80% 23.77%

Return on average equity 30.86% 44.84%

Looks like the trend is down.

Also, their stock price has been basically flat for 10 years. That tells you what the market thinks of Microsoft.

Re: Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#7

Post by toot » Tue, May 15, 2012, 9:02 PM UTC

This is way off topic, but I was wondering does anyone know what this blog is built with, and if a site template is available?

I really like the design and notice that another YC blogger Ilya Lichtenstein is using the same design on his site

Re: Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#8

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 15, 2012, 9:05 PM UTC

toot wrote: post #7

This is way off topic, but I was wondering does anyone know what this blog is built with, and if a site template is available? I really like the design and notice that another YC blogger Ilya Lichtenstein is using the same design on his site

[deleted]

Re: Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#9

Post by owlishness » Tue, May 15, 2012, 9:05 PM UTC

I used to work for Microsoft, and while I now work for a "cooler" company, it's good to see people doing some actual analysis about it instead of blind M$ bashing.

Re: Steve Ballmer's Microsoft

#10

Post by akanster » Tue, May 15, 2012, 9:07 PM UTC

toot wrote: post #7

This is way off topic, but I was wondering does anyone know what this blog is built with, and if a site template is available? I really like the design and notice that another YC blogger Ilya Lichtenstein is using the same design on his site

Svbtle by Dustin Curtis - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3742314