In what might be the last earnings report presented under Steve Ballmer, Microsoft announced a profit of $6.56 billion, up 2.8% from $6.28 billion in the same quarter last year, for the quarter ended December 31, 2013. It also recorded revenue of $24.52 billion, up from $21.46 billion from the same quarter last year. Highlights - Microsoft announced a successor to Xbox 360 gaming console, Xbox One and the company sold 7.4 million Xbox console units into the retail channel, including 3.9 million Xbox One consoles and 3.5 million Xbox 360 consoles in the quarter. - The company had launched Surface 2 tablet towards the end of the last quarter, but the company has no disclosed the amount of units it sold during the period. However, Microsoft revealed that Surface revenue doubled sequentially, from $400 million in the first quarter to $893 million in the second. - Revenues from Xbox Live transactions increased by 25% - Microsoft currently has 3.5 million Office 365 Home Premium subscribers. - Bing US marketshare up 18.2% and search advertising revenue grew 34%. - SQL server business continued to gain market share with revenue growing double-digits. - System Center showed continued strength with double-digit revenue growth. - Commercial cloud services revenue more than doubled. - Office 365 commercial seats and Azure customers both grew triple-digits. Financials Revenue from Devices and Consumer Licensing business, which includes which includes OEM revenues dipped slightly to $5.38 billion from $5.70 billion in the previous quarter last year. However, Windows OEM Pro revenue grew 12%. The company…
