Microsoft's 2Q profit falls 28%

Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter profit fell 28 per cent, as delays from the launch of its new version of Windows cut into holiday-quarter revenue.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, earnings fell to $2.63 billion, or 26 cents per share, from $3.65 billion, or 34 cents per share during the same period last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker to post a profit of 23 cents per share.

Revenue rose to $12.54 billion from $11.84 billion in the year-ago quarter. Results were higher than Wall Street's average forecast for $12.08 billion in sales.