Sometimes division can lead to multiplication. Microsoft’s Business and Entertainment & Devices divisions led the way as the company yesterday reported record second-quarter revenue of US$19.95 billion.
Revenue attributable to the company’s Business Division, led by sales of Office 2010, grew by 20% from 2009, and the new productivity suite had sales 50% ahead of the launch of Office 2007.
“Office had a huge quarter, exceeding everyone’s expectations, and our roadmap for cloud productivity with Office 265 makes products like SharePoint, Exchange, Lync and Dynamics CRM even more attractive to our customers,” said Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s COO, in the filing.
Meanwhile, the introduction (and sale of 8 million units) of the Kinect, a motion-control sensor for the Xbox gaming system, drove revenue from the company’s Entertainment & Devices Division to 55% growth from the prior year.
Revenue from the Server and Tools Division also increased year over year, from $3.97 billion in the 2009 fiscal second quarter to $4.39 billion in the 2010 period. However, the Windows and Windows Live Division saw revenues decline from $7.19 billion in the second quarter 2009 to $5.05 billion in the same period last year, despite Turner’s assertion that Windows 7 is “the fastest-growing operating system in history.”
