Have fun:

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/index.html

I'm hoping mario64 can do the math and actually learning something in the process :) (i know it'll never happen as he's exited the thread as soon as reality was injected but hey! I can dream)

I didn't exit the thread at all, I read every post. I see many people share my opinion about MS being in trouble.

Including this analyst who probably knows better than a bunch of fanboy teens on a board :

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10552230/1/todays-outrage-who-cares-about-microsoft.html

"Who Cares About Microsoft?"

"Sorry folks, but Microsoft (MSFT Quote) ain't what it once was. The software giant is losing its edge, as we saw with yesterday's earnings report.

(...)

The bottom line is that Microsoft is no longer a bellwether for the tech sector. It's just another software company that screwed up and is trying to get its act together after the debacle known as Vista.

(...)

After all, who cares about Microsoft anymore? "

I agree with him, who cares about MS. They look more and more like a fallen star.

Well...one analyst proves this to be true...lol

@mario64,

That is laughable. MS may not be the software company that is the bellweather for the tech sector, but fallen start that is hilarity. In an economy that is the worst since the great depression MS makes $4B in profit in the 4th qtr and $20B for the past fiscal year. That isnt a fallen star.

Looking forward MS has some great products coming. Windows 7 is awesome and Office 2010 (particularly server side products looks to continue the domination that Office 2007 started) looks awesome as well.

Nobody said MS was doomed. It's still obviously a very profitable company. Nobody contests that.

It's just the pace of the decline (-30% revenue) is slightly worrying, and even more worrying is the loss of market share in their core software businesses (OS, browsers, office...). Nothing more, nothing less.

When General Motors started declining, nobody saw anything either, everybody said they would stay the number one, yet today they reached bankrupcy... What matter is the trend.

Actually revenue fell by 17%... Similar to many companies right now.

Why do I know? I've read tons of recent earnings results. Here are some, from big companies which are representative:

http://www.123jump.com/market-update/Earnings-at-JP-Morgan-Up-36,-Marriott-Down-76/33772/ (list of several companies)

http://www.intc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=396473

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Caterpillar-Delivers-prnews-3554008320.html?x=0&.v=1

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/TI-profit-outlook-beats-rb-1272622755.html?x=0&.v=4

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN2050162020090720?rpc=44

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN201260620090720?rpc=44

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/GE-Reports-2Q-09-EPS-of-26-bw-1147158010.html?x=0&.v=1

In fact, many companies are having 20-30% drops in revenue. The economy is that bad.

@NJ5 : the difference is MS is a company which used to report a big growth in profit. Now it's just struggling to break even.

The other companies don't have Windows or Office as cash cows and they already report better numbers... The problem is those cash cows were the only things working at MS, and now they're starting to decline too.

mario64 please read MS's earnings report before spouting nonsense. They had a $14 billion profit, they're not struggling to break even.

WHat???? Really? Last time I checked they made about $4billion this quarter.