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Microsoft to lump its results into just 3 divisions for financial reporting

Intelligent Cloud, which covers server software (Windows Server, SQL Server, System Center), Azure, and enterprise services.

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“We expect to hear more on the conference call regarding what KPIs will be provided and if we will get enough detail to distinguish between the performance of the consumer and commercial versions of the Office and Windows products”.

Microsoft Corporation announced that it will change the reporting of its financial results to reflect the company’s strategy and ambitions to build platforms and productivity services for a mobile-first, cloud-first world. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its reasonable valuation levels, expanding profit margins, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and notable return on equity. Thanks to folks over at Business Insider who caught an SEC filling document from Microsoft, we’re given an early look at which businesses will shine with the company’s new structure.

The Redmond, Washington-based technology company said Monday that it will report revenue and operating income based on four segments, down from seven.

Microsoft’s new plan is to trim down the semantic word categorization of its business segments from five to three.

Microsoft will no longer regularly provide unit sales of its Xbox video game console or its Lumia smartphone, for instance. “Bundling Windows with phone, Xbox, and Surface will mask the underperformance of the hardware divisions, although it’ll also take a few of the shine off Windows”.

Microsoft is scheduled to report first-quarter results on October. 22.

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But Microsoft will not be able to disguise its bigger problems with the new format, Dawson said. A fourth, smaller bucket, called Corporate and Other, also will be used, said Cameron Bays, a spokeswoman for the company. It is more of a service, and less of a product, and has a couple of new features, including the virtual assistant, Cortana.

Microsoft overhauls financial reporting (again)