Analysts grill Microsoft over spending forecast
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
Microsoft, preparing to launch new versions of its biggest products, is projecting rising sales but lower-than-expected profits for its next fiscal year.
The forecast, which came as Microsoft reported a 16 percent increase in quarterly earnings Thursday afternoon, signaled rising expenses for the upcoming year. That prompted some Wall Street analysts to ask just what, exactly, the company will be spending its money on.
"It sounds like you're building a Google or building a Yahoo inside the company," Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund told company executives in a conference call, alluding to the size of two rivals Microsoft is trying to catch. He noted that the planned expenses for the upcoming year appear to be about $2.4 billion more than he had estimated.