It has been a big summer for Microsoft already, with a steady drumbeat of announcements — including the unveiling of its Surface tablet computer, the acquisitions of Yammer and Perceptive Pixel, the first official details of the Windows 8 release schedule and, on the down side, the $6.2 billion aQuantive write-down.
Expect the news to continue this week. Microsoft is holding an event today at noon in San Francisco headlined by CEO Steve Ballmer. The company isn’t tipping its hand it advance, but it’s widely expected to show off the next version of Microsoft Office, the next step in an effort to remake programs such as Word, Excel and others for the emerging world of online services and devices.
The company launched a private technical preview of Office 15 back in January, with one executive calling it “the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division.” The Wall Street Journal explains the competitive implications as Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud productivity suite competes for business against Google Apps.
Check back with GeekWire later today for coverage. A webcast of the event will be available at noon on the Microsoft News Center.
From a financial perspective, the implications are big for the company. The Microsoft Business Division, home to Microsoft Office, is the largest division of the company, posting $17.7 billion in revenue and $11.6 billion in operating profits through the first nine months of the company’s 2012 fiscal year.
Later this week, on Thursday afternoon, Microsoft will announce its financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended June 30.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to post quarterly earnings of 62 cents per share, down 10 percent from the same quarter a year ago. That’s not counting the impact of the aQuantive write-down, which will probably push the company overall into the red for the quarter.
Microsoft shares are trading around $29.30 this morning. That’s down about 2 percent over the past month.
Follow-up: First look: Microsoft remakes Office for tablets and the cloud
