Say what you want about its products, but as an investment, there's been few better than Microsoft Corp. And since it went public in 1986, it has seen its revenue grow every year — until now:
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, Microsoft reported revenue of $58.44 billion, a 3% decline from the prior year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the year were $20.36 billion, $14.57 billion and $1.62, which represented declines of 9%, 18% and 13% respectively.
Meanwhile, Apple Computer this week reported that, for the nine months which ended on June 27, its revenue was $27-billion, up 8.5 per cent over the same period last year. Its gross margin was $9.5 billion, up 13.3 per cent. Net income (profit) for Apple for the fiscal year so far was $4 billion, up about 9 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Apple is a much smaller company than Microsoft but still … wow.
What about Ubuntu or Red Hat?