Microsoft announced its fiscal first-quarter 2012 earnings on Thursday, the best first quarter the company has ever recorded. The Redmond-based software giant reported revenue of $17.37 billion, up 7% from the first quarter of 2011 and on a par with analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Operating income for the quarter was $7.2 billion, up 1% from the same quarter last year and net income was $5.74 billion, or $0.68 per share, up 6% from the first quarter of 2011. “We saw customer demand across the bre...

It may soon be possible for you to own your own slice of the Angry Birds empire. Days after announcing $42 million in Series A funding, Rovio’s board chairman has expressed interest in seeking an initial public offering in the United States, according to statements made to Finnish business magazine Talouselama. “The plan is to seek an IPO in New York, but the specific timing and details are still open,” Ville Heijari, a Rovio spokesperson confirmed to Reuters in an email on Friday. Angry Bir...

On a day when the business world is focused solely on Apple and the launch of its iPhone 4, RIM announced its quarterly results. Although it managed to pocket a handsome profit of $768.9 million, everything from revenue to subscribers to devices shipped missed the mark. Revenue, which was up 24% Y0Y at $4.24 billion or $1.38 per share diluted, fell short of the $4.32b analysts were expecting. The 4.9 million new subscribers RIM picked up also wasn’t good enough for the Street, which was looking to see 5...

Fresh off of a solid quarter which saw profits rise 28%, HP announced today that it will be laying of some 9,000 workers as it moves to automate several of its commercial data centers. Although the move will incur a $1 billion charge through 2013, HP ultimately believes the move will ultimately save anywhere from $500 million to $700 million by 2013 and increase increase overall productivity. Approximately 6,000 new workers will be hired in various countries to replace those who lost their jobs. (more…)...

Market cap isn’t everything when determining the value of a company, but considering that just over 10 years ago Apple was free falling into irrelevance, the news today that Apple’s outstanding shares are for the first time ever worth more than Microsoft’s is nothing short of amazing. At the time of writing this, Apple’s market cap was $224.01 billion while Microsoft’s was $217.52 billion. The only company in the world with a market cap larger than Apple is Exxon Mobil at $279....

Remember all of the hoopla surrounding RIM’s hostile takeover of Certicom? Well the Ontario Securities Commission sure does, as it’s alleging that former RIM VP Paul Donald personally profited from the deal thanks to some insider trading. The OSC claims that back in August of 2008, Donald was attending a RIM function where RIM top brass informed him that they were actively trying to acquire the software encryption specialists Certicom — a company whose technology is used in every single Blac...

Dell, the third-largest PC maker in the world, showed strong growth in Q1 of 2010 as profits totaled $441 million — or $0.22 per share — up 52% from a year ago. Revenue climbed 21% (to $14.9 billion) from the previous quarter thanks to a 21.4% increase in PC shipments; a spike which Dell attributed to, “the early stages of a corporate IT refresh.” Dell also saw a boost from server and network revenue (up 39% to $1.8 billion), mobility revenue (up 18% to $4.6 billion), and desktops sale...

HP managed to surpass the Street’s expectations as the company saw profits grew by 28% in the quarter ended April 30th. Capitalizing on strong demand for PCs and servers, revenue came in at $30.8 billion with an adjusted income of $1.09. Analysts were expecting to see $1.05 per share. This performance allowed HP to hold onto its title as the world’s largest manufacturer of personal computers. HP is predicting that the current quarter will see bring in $29.7 to $30 billion in revenue, with an adj...

When the news officially broke that HP had put in a winning bid for Palm, it all seemed so simple. HP, a company that has long had its smartphone ambitions beset by poor hardware and execution, seemed to simply be the only company that was really intent on purchasing the troubled company based in Sunnyvale. But according to a recent SEC filing from Palm, what really took place in weeks leading up to HP’s successful bid was a five company bidding war. Click through to get all the facts straight from the...

According to a report from Reuters, HTC has dropped the idea of acquiring Palm after a close examining the ailing company’s books. Reuters quoted an unnamed source in Taiwan who was involved in the dead deal as saying “there just weren’t enough synergies to take the deal forward.” This means HTC has joined a growing list of companies that have decided against making a bid for Palm including Dell and Huawei. The CEO of Huawei-rival ZTE informed Reuters his company has not made a move. ...

Yesterday, Microsoft announced its Q3 2010 earnings, and we’re pleased to report things went well for the Redmond, WA company. Riding the success of Windows 7, Microsoft beat analysts expectations with $14.5 billion in revenue and a net income of $4.01 billion or $0.45 per share. As previously mentioned, Windows 7 was a smash hit helping Windows revenue climb 28%. Some 10% of PCs world-wide are now running Windows 7. Sales of the Xbox 360 helped the Entertainment Division’s revenue increase to $16...

Yesterday, AT&T had its say by announcing its Q1 2010 results, so it is only fitting today is Verizon’s turn. Unfortunately for Big Red, it didn’t fare as well as Ma Bell. Over the past three months, 423,000 new post-paid customers put ink to a contract. Overall, Verizon gained 1.5 million net customers to bring its overall total to 92.8 million. Postpaid churn matched AT&T’s 1.07%, while the overall rate was 1.4%. ARPU overall remained unchanged from Q1 2009 at $50.95 thanks in par...

ARM Holdings, the Cambridge-based company which holds the licensing rights to the majority of processors found in modern mobile devices, is said to be in Apple’s shopping list. Apple, purported to be ARM’s largest customer, pays the company royalties for each iPod and iPhone sold. An unnamed trader speculated to The Evening Standard that Apple would likely offer ARM 400p per share, or £5.2 billion ($8 billion USD). Shares in ARM Holdings closed Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange at 250.5p, u...

Sure, this doesn’t exactly fit in with what we normally cover at BGR, but when we saw what the Treasury Department did with the design of the newly unveiled $100 bill we just couldn’t help but whip up this post. To enter into circulation in February 2011, the new $100 bill features a range of new security features that will help the average person discern what’s real from what’s fake. The two features Uncle Sam is most proud about are the 3D Security Ribbon and the Bell in the Inkwell...