Microsoft announced net income of $1.04 billion and earnings of $0.79 per share, an 80% increase over the previous quarter. Revenues were $3.21 billion, a 45% increase over the previous quarter. Upgrade sales of Windows 95 and Office 97 are the main reasons for these results, in addition to increasing acceptance of Windows NT as a corporate computing solution. Over 8 million licenses of Office 97 were sold, three times the rate of any previous version of Microsoft's cash cow. This translates into roughly one license of Office 97 being sold every second!

For beleaguered Apple, the news wasn't so great. Apple's total loss for the quarter was $(708) million, or $(5.64) a share. Of that loss, $375 million was for the purchase of NeXT Software Inc., and $155 million for restructuring (read: layoffs). Apple's CEO promises a return to profitability in 1997, but he said the same thing this time last year too. Rumors continue to circulate concerning a hostile takeover of Apple by Larry Ellison of Oracle. He has publicly stated he would sack most of Apple's management, with the likely exception of "consultant" Steve Jobs, and turn Apple into a low-cost network computer manufacturer.

More information about Microsoft's earnings can be found at www.microsoft.com/msft/html/earnq397.htm. Details on Office 97's earnings can be found at www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/press/1997/apr97/strngqpr.htm. Apple's results are described at product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q3/970416.pr.rel.q297.html.

Microsoft: www.microsoft.com (NASDAQ: MSFT)

Apple: www.apple.com (NASDAQ: AAPL)

From the Wall Street Journal and other sources.