By Joey Gardiner, 20 October 1999 18:47
NEWS Microsoft has posted strong earnings rises in what has been a mixed week for IT companies reporting quarterly results. PeopleSoft has shown a massive decline in profits, while RealNetworks is continuing its assault upon Microsoft with hugely increased revenues. Microsoft profits were up 29 per cent on last year to $2.19bn for the quarter ending 30 September. Revenues are up 28 per cent to $5.38bn on what it referred to as "awesome growth in the PC market". Finance officer Greg Maffei said sales were also driven by strong demand for Office 2000, Windows NT and BackOffice applications. However, ERP vendor, PeopleSoft, showed an 88 per cent decline in profits, down from $44.2m a year ago to just $5.2m. Revenue declined 14 per cent to $303.1m. CEO and President, Craig Conway, said the results reflect what has been a transition year for PeopleSoft and the ERP industry as a whole. Last week PeopleSoft bought CRM vendor Vantive to improve its offering in the lucrative front-office market. RealNetworks - which produces RealPlayer - reported Net revenues almost doubling from $17.7m to $34.9 for the quarter ending 30 September compared to the previous year. The company also came into the black for the first time, recording a profit of $4.4m. Rob Glaser, CEO, said that the results represent an "important milestone" for the company.
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