Microsoft sees plunge in quarterly sales, profit

SAN FRANCISCO, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Microsoft Corp. on Thursday posted drops of quarterly sales and profit that both missed expectations.

In the quarter ended on June 30, Microsoft's revenue fell to 13.1 billion U.S. dollars, a decline of 17 percent over the same period a year earlier.

The software giant said it earned 3.05 billion dollars or 34 cents per share, down 29 percent and 26 percent respectively when compared with the year-ago quarter.

"Our business continued to be negatively impacted by weakness in the global PC and server markets," Chris Liddell, chief financial officer of Microsoft, said in a statement.

The results disappointed investors and Microsoft's shares, which closed at 25.5 dollars, fell nearly 8 percent in after-hours trading.

According to a consensus from Thomson Reuters, analysts have expected Microsoft to earn 36 cents per share on sales of 14.37 billion dollars.