Microsoft Profit and Loss by Business Area

An anonymous submitter writes "The Register is reporting in this article striking new evidence of what in my opinion can only be described as abuse of their monopoly position. A recent SEC filing shows that they lose money in every business area except Windows (86% profit) and Office (79% profit)." Another notes that the Financial Times has a story on the same subject - Dr. No writes "According to the Financial Times, Microsoft's Windows division has a profit margin of 85%. This is the first time this figure has been made public." The full version of Windows XP costs about $300.00. Microsoft could sell it for $45 and still make a profit. The difference between the $45 price and the $300 price is what economists call "monopoly rents".

Windows XP fo $45?

[Jason1729]

The other $255 pays for IE and WMP

So in theory...

[myowntrueself]

we could drive M$ to bankruptcy by buying BULK xboxes and using them as Linux servers?

Microsoft Profit

[sconeu]

Did anybody else think they'd come up with a new product when they read the headline?

Re:Wrong.

[Zorikin]

> Removing the blindfold from Lady Justice is far too grave a matter to justify a separate standard for monopolies.

It's a blindfold, not a stupidfold.

Re:some of this is a joke

[PerryMason]

microsoft should be paying us money to use it, anything more than that is "overcharge."

I couldnt have put it better myself.

Common Slashdot error:

[Murdock037]

...just because you know how to type in bold, it doesn't mean you're right.

$2.9 billion in 'good will'...

[kolchak]

...and still no one likes M$ :)

Re:Sour Grapes, Troll

[cheezedawg]

No- 89% margin is a very good sign that Microsoft is providing a product that people are willing to pay $300 for. Thats it.

Debian price set to rise

[Anonymous Coward]

The price of downloading Debian GNU/Linux is set to rise 550%.

550 * 0 = 0 ;)

Re:and if id ever got to the point

[SensitiveMale]

KDE1 was better but uglier than Windows. KDE3 is better and prettier.

A pig with stockings on is better looking than windows.

And compared to windows 3.1 or earlier, you can even leave the stockings off.

The Slashdotter's Paradox

[InnovATIONS]

Windows is a Monopoly because there are no viable alternatives.

Linux is a viable alternative to Windows.

Re:File formats!

[mesocyclone]

<Office-XML>

<![CDATA[
acres of binary, secret gobbledygook
]]>
</Office-XML>

Re:They try to hide true stats from the employees

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe that has something to do with my leaving :P

Notice the Street Address

[Greg Stevens]

I've never really looked so closely at Microsoft's address than today:

One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399

This must be why their business policy is to monopolize. Their mission statement is on every letterhead and piece of correspondence. They can't help but overcharge. ;-)

Re:This profit subsidizes the rest...

[Citizen of Earth]

The X-Box is currently losing $750M/year, and is set to rise. How can other companies hope to compete, or even break into that market?

They should buy lots of X-Boxes and use them as landfill.

Re:Monopoly!

[clontzman]

"BeOS is dead. NEXTSTEP is dead. OS/2 is dead. And they were all superior products with lower price tags!"

Lower price tags?!?

What you say? Take off every revisionist history for great justice!